The Saturday Poem Guest Column -Eglantine chooses Emily Dickinson

Oct 04, 2013 21:20

This week we are delighted to welcome our first USA guest column contributor,eglantine_brShe writes ( Read more... )

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eglantine_br October 5 2013, 02:01:18 UTC
Nodbear pointed out that she is not in white in the photo. She was famous for wearing white-- maybe she was in mourning clothes here?

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nodbear October 5 2013, 10:06:28 UTC
Sorry that sounds like me being boring - it was only an idle comment but your theory is a likely one don't you think ?
She looks as if this dress might have been a mourning outfit -
btw any pics of you as Emily survive from that long ago Halloween - for private viewing of course !

as to the poems - they are lovely and I Did not know either of them previously so thank you
I especially enjoyed the intense observation of the bird in the pathway and the sense of that moment that we get

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eglantine_br October 5 2013, 14:31:03 UTC
You could never be boring! I am pretty sure I don't have a picture of me as Emily. I do have a pic of me as Martha Washington. Mom made panniers that year-- and a simulated wig of cotton balls. I will see if I can dig it up. (The photo, not the wig.)

I love the first poem especially. So pithy, elegant in beauty, as well as efficiency. She gets more work out of a word than almost anyone.

For years I puzzled over angle worms-- worms are curvy things, they don't make angles. But it is, after all angling meaning fishing. (Of course you know that.) An angle worm is a worm of the sort used for fishing bait.

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anteros_lmc October 5 2013, 11:10:48 UTC
These are wonderful, but it's your introduction that really makes them. You set the scene for her words so perfectly :)

I'm not at all familiar with Dickinson's writing but from the few you have introduced me to I can see what you mean about her having real bite. I remember "Tell all the truth", didn't you use that in a fic once? Wise words indeed. "A bird came down" is quite extraordinary though. I love the way it starts so literal and almost mundane and then dissolves into something much more dreamlike. It's really powerful in the strangest way. It brought a lump to my throat the first time I read it though it's not at all sad.

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