Emily Dickinson

“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it. Is there any other way?”

—Emily Dickinson

c. 1847

Born this day in 1830: Emily Dickinson (1830–1886), poetic genius of the 19th century

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, and lived there with her family her entire life. She was a bright and promising student, showing a strong facility for not only composition, but for Latin and science as well. As a young woman she became increasingly, now famously, reclusive. She left school and retired to her family home. She kept a social life of sorts, however, through prolific letter writing. 

Dickinson wrote hundreds of short, lyrical poems, startling in their originality. Only a handful were published, without her consent, during her lifetime. After Emily died in 1886, her sister, Lavinia, found hundreds of Dickinon’s poems stashed away in a box. Writer Mary Loomis Todd, a family friend, edited them for publication.

Much has been written about the enigmatic poet’s life, with speculation abounding about her personal life and her inner landscape. What is not disputed, however, is her place as one of the finest poets in the English language. Enjoy!

(260)

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you – Nobody – too?

Then there's a pair of us!

Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!

How public – like a Frog – 

To tell one's name – the livelong June – 

To an admiring Bog!

                     _____

(254)

Hope is the thing with feathers 

That perches in the soul, 

And sings the tune without the words, 

And never stops at all, 

  

And sweetest in the gale is heard;         

And sore must be the storm 

That could abash the little bird 

That kept so many warm. 

  

I've heard it in the chillest land, 

And on the strangest sea;        

Yet, never, in extremity, 

It asked a crumb of me.

                     _____

(303)

The Soul selects her own Society —

Then — shuts the Door —

To her divine Majority —

Present no more —

Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — pausing —

At her low Gate —

Unmoved — an Emperor be kneeling

Upon her Mat —

I've known her — from an ample nation —

Choose One —

Then — close the Valves of her attention —

Like Stone —

                     _____

(443)

I tie my Hat—I crease my Shawl—

Life's little duties do—precisely—

As the very least 

Were infinite—to me—

   

I put new Blossoms in the Glass—

And throw the old—away—

I push a petal from my gown 

That anchored there—I weigh 

The time 'twill be till six o'clock 

I have so much to do—

And yet—Existence—some way back—

Stopped—struck—my tickling—through—

We cannot put Ourself away 

As a completed Man 

Or Woman—When the Errand's done 

We came to Flesh—upon—

There may be—Miles on Miles of Nought—

Of Action—sicker far—

To simulate—is stinging work—

To cover what we are 

From Science—and from Surgery—

Too Telescopic Eyes 

To bear on us unshaded—

For their—sake—not for Ours—

Twould start them—

We—could tremble—

But since we got a Bomb—

And held it in our Bosom—

Nay—Hold it—it is calm—

   

Therefore—we do life's labor—

Though life's Reward—be done—

With scrupulous exactness—

To hold our Senses—on—

You can find Dickinson’s poetry free online from many sources. More recently published scholarly editions, however, reflect the poems in their original, unedited form. Visit the Emily Dickinson Museum for a list of resources.

I welcome your feedback! React, comment, subscribe below.

Genevieve Taggard

“A poet, a wine-bibber, a radical.”

Born this day in 1894: Genevieve Taggard (1894–1948), poet and social radical who is most remembered for her important biography of Emily Dickinson and who was admired in her own time for her lyricism and her socially conscious poetry

Taggard spent most of her childhood in Hawaii, where her parents served as Christian missionaries. She worked her way through the University of California, Berkeley. There she threw off her repressive upringing, studying poetry and adopting socialist ideals. She described  herself as “a poet, a wine-bibber, a radical.”  Taggard edited the college literary magazine, the Occident, and some of her poems were published in national publications such as Harpers and Poetry.

After graduating in 1940 she moved to New York City. There she joined the city’s radical literary circle, contributing regularly to left-wing magazines. She also co-founded The Measure: A Journal of Poetry. Taggard was a dedicated social radical, advocating socialism, labor rights, suffrage, equality, and other social reforms.

Much of her poetry reflects her politics. Words for the Chisel (1926), Not Mine to Finish (1934), and Calling Western Union (1936) are among her most political. She was also known for more personal poems and poems describing nature that were intensely evocative of place. Her later poetry explored the art form itself. She was particularly admired for her lyricism. In fact, some of her poetry was set to music by William Schuman and Aaron Copeland.

Though acclaimed for her poetry in her time, today she is most remembered for The Life and Mind of Emily Dickinson (1930), an interpretive biography that explores the connection between Dickinson’s psychology and poetry.

In 1921 Taggard married Robert L. Wolf, a writer. They had one daughter. The family briefly lived in California, where Taggard edited a poetry anthology. After returning to the east coast, Taggard began teaching, first at Mount Holyoke College (1929–1930) and then at Bennington College (1932–1935). In 1934 she divorced Wolf and married Kenneth Durant, an employee of Tass, the Soviet news agency, the following year. From 1935 to 1946 she taught at Sarah Lawrence College. She retired due to ill health, and died shortly thereafter at age 53.

Black Laughter

by Genevieve Taggard

Harsh, unuttered thunder
Stood like a stone wall
Above the marsh's silver line.
Crooked cranes, white as lightning–
Flattened for an instant, flashing from the cloud—
Came driving toward us; toward us fell
The long lines of the shade-laden trees,
Soundless slanting thunder:
And the snail-like hills
Dragged nearer
The marsh's slime.

Borne down so
By sullen immensities,
Two caught children we stood,
Waiting the flash, the oblique arm of the parent,
Waiting for speech from the jowl
Of the irritated horizon….

Our love began
Between flash and crash,—
Terror seen and terror heard.
See what a cripple our love is!
It is sullen; sometimes it makes walls of black laughter;
It is fond of words, fond of thick vowels,
It mimics thunder.
Between us it limps:
We wait for it, when we must, faces averted.

I welcome your feedback! React, comment, subscribe below.

Mabel Loomis Todd

Born this day in 1856: Mabel Loomis Todd (1856–1932), writer and editor most remembered for being the first to edit and publish the poems of the late Emily Dickinson

A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mabel Loomis graduated from Georgetown Seminary in Washington, D.C., and studied music at the New England Conservatory. She married astronomer David P. Todd in 1879. They had one daughter, Millicent, the following year.  The family moved to Amherst, Massachusetts, when Mr. Todd joined the faculty of Amherst College in 1881. In Amherst they became friendly with the Dickinson family.

Emily Dickinson’s brother, Austin, lived next door with his wife, Susan. Emily shared much of her poetry with her sister-in-law, and it was Susan who first introduced Todd to Dickinson’s poetry. The poems struck Todd as both “strange” and “powerful.” Todd spent quite a bit of time in Emily Dickinson’s house (according to Todd’s diary—as well as Austin’s—at least several afternoons each week, if you catch my drift). Emily often invited Todd to play piano or sing, listening from behind closed doors. She would thank her with notes and poems.

After Emily died in 1886, her sister, Lavinia, found hundreds of Emily’s poems stashed away in a box. The family asked Todd to edit them for publication. For several years Todd pored through the work, transcribing and editing the poems. She eventually enlisted the aid of writer Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Higginson had long corresponded with Dickinson about her poetry. Together they published Poems by Emily Dickinson in 1890. The volume was well-received, and they followed it with a second volume the following year. Todd published two volumes of Dickinson’s letters in 1894 and a third volume of poetry in 1896.

Todd was an accomplished writer in her own right. She was an avid traveler and collector, often accompanying her husband on astronomical expeditions. Her books include nature writing, travel accounts, popular science, and fiction. She was also very active in her community. She founded the Amherst Historical society, was director of the Massachusetts State Federation of Women’s Clubs, and promoted the Audobon Society and preservation of the Florida Everglades. She lectured, gave piano recitals, and taught both music and painting. 

I welcome your feedback! React, comment, subscribe below.