One of my favorite lines of Emily Dickinson’s poetry comes
from her poem # 919, which goes like this:
If I could stop one Heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain.
If I can ease one Life the Aching,
or cool one Pain,
Or help one fainting Robin
into his Nest again,
I shall not live in Vain.
To me, this says everything about Emily Dickinson as a
person, not a distant poet hiding away from the world. Dickinson was initially
skeptical of publication; many of the poems “published” in her lifetime were sent
to friends and family in letters, and kept in closed circles. Others were sent
to newspapers without her consent, and kept anonymous. Though we’re grateful
today that her work made it further out into the world, she wasn’t focused on
widespread acclaim at the time—Dickinson just wanted her art to make an effect
on even one person.
Clearly, she’s met her goal. Not only has Dickinson gained
the approval of critics, poetry lovers, and scholars, she’s made a personal
impact on the lives of the masses. In a letter to Colonel Thomas Wentworth
Higginson, a writer and social activist with whom she kept a regular
correspondence, Dickinson wrote, “If fame belonged to me—I could not escape
her.” Did she have some insight into the future, in which others would publish
and share volumes of her poetry? Maybe, or maybe she was just willing to let go
of control once the writing was done. Either way, Dickinson has captured in her
writing an intimacy that dissolves barriers between writer and reader.
The Poetry Foundation building in Chicago showcases some
responses to Dickinson’s work in an exhibit called “Forever—is composed of
Nows.” In this video, artists discuss ways in which Dickinson’s work has
inspired them to create their own, and all take into account the intensely
personal nature of her work that is simultaneously individual and widely
relatable.
 |
| A still from Lesley Dill's opera based on Dickinson's work, Divide Light |
Jen Bervin, co-editor of The
Gorgeous Nothings: Emily Dickinson’s Envelope Poems, speaks about the original
pages Dickinson wrote, and how the work comes to life in her handwriting.
Visual artists Lesley Dill and Spencer Finch talk about the way emotion comes
through in her writing, so far that Dill says “Dickinson’s words speak to you;
you feel like they are yours.” Finch agrees, and discusses how her vivid
sensory details make readers “see what she saw, feel what she felt,” and become
more “sensitive to the world.”
 |
| Spencer Finch's "366 (Emily Dickinson's Miraculous Year)" |
Dickinson’s work inspired these artists to make their own,
likely because of the simplicity and humanity that pours through her poetry. So
many people have read her work, but the words are so accessible that they feel
personal, like the letters she wrote to friends in her own slanting
handwriting. As artists take refuge in
her work, their hearts break along with hers, shattering any fears of a life
lived in vain.
Sources/Links:
Johnson, Thomas H., ed. Emily Dickinson
Selected Letters. London: The Belknap
Press
Of Harvard University, 1958. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment