Dickinson in her own time : a biographical chronicle of her life, drawn from recollections, interviews, and memoirs by family, friends, and associates / edited by Jane Donahue Eberwein, Stephanie Farrar, Cristanne Miller.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Eberwein, Jane Donahue, 1943- editor.

Farrar, Stephanie, 1980- editor.

Miller, Cristanne, editor.

Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

Series:

Writers in their own time (University of Iowa Press)

Writers in their own time

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886.

Dickinson, Emily.

Women poets, American--Biography.

Women poets, American.

Poets, American--19th century--Biography.

Poets, American.

Friends and associates.

Public opinion.

Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886--Public opinion.

Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886--Appreciation.

Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886--Friends and associates.

Women and literature--United States--History--19th century.

Women and literature.

United States.

History.

Art appreciation.

Friendship.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

xxxv, 202 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, [2015]

Summary:

"Even before the first books of her poems were published in the 1890s, friends, neighbors, and even apparently strangers knew Emily Dickinson was a writer of remarkable verses. Featuring both well-known documents and material printed or collected here for the first time, this book offers a broad range of writings that convey impressions of Dickinson in her own time and for the first decades following the publication of her poems. It all begins with her school days and continues to the centennial of her birth in 1930. In addition, promotional items, reviews, and correspondence relating to early publications are included, as well as some later documents that reveal the changing assessments of Dickinson's poetry in response to evolving critical standards. These documents provide evidence that counters many popular conceptions of her life and reception, such as the belief that the writer best known for poems focused on loss, death, and immortality was herself a morose soul. In fact, those who knew her found her humorous, playful, and interested in other people. Dickinson maintained literary and personal correspondence with major representatives of the national literary scene, developing a reputation as a remarkable writer even as she maintained extreme levels of privacy. Evidence compiled here also demonstrates that she herself made considerable provision for the survival of her poems and laid the groundwork for their eventual publication. Dickinson in Her Own Time reveals the poet as her contemporaries knew her, before her legend took hold."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part 1 A Life Enshrouded in "fiery mist" 1

The Young Dickinson 3

Daniel T. Fiske to Mabel Loomis Todd, 6 February 1894 4

Amelia D. Jones Stearns, Reminiscence of Mount Holyoke days, 1899 4

Emily L. Norcross to Hannah Porter from Mount Holyoke, 11 January 1848 5

Jeanie Ashley Bates Greenough, Reminiscence, n.d. 7

Austin Dickinson to Joseph Lyman, 20 December 1848(?) (excerpt) 7

Dickinson as Poet 10

Susan and Emily Dickinson, Exchange on "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers," 1861-62 11

Joseph Lyman and Emily Dickinson, n.d. 12

Thomas Wentworth Higginson to Emily Dickinson, 11 May 1869 13

Thomas Wentworth Higginson on first visit to Dickinson, 16-17 August 1870 15

Lydia B. Torrey to Emily F. Ford, 16 November 1872 18

Thomas Wentworth Higginson to Anna and Louisa Higginson, 9 December 1873 (excerpt) 20

Domestic Seclusion and Emerging Reputation 21

Helen Hunt Jackson, Letters to Emily Dickinson and material regarding A Masque of Poets, 1876-79 21

"Saxe Holm" speculations, July-August 1878 28

Catherine Scott Anthon to Susan Dickinson, n.d. 37

Mabel Loomis Todd, Journal entries on the "Myth" of Amherst, 1882 38

Thomas Niles, Correspondence with Emily Dickinson, 1882-83 40

Lavinia Dickinson, Poem for Emily, 1882 43

Helen Hunt Jackson to Emily Dickinson, 1884-85 45

Death Notices 48

Northampton Daily Herald, 17 May 1886 48

Obituary by Susan Dickinson, Springfield Republican, 18 May 1886 48

Part 2 The Life of the Poems 51

Publication of, Correspondence Regarding, and Reception of Poems by Emily Dickinson (1890) and Poems: Second Series (1891) 53

Arlo Bates, Report to Thomas Niles of Roberts Brothers, c. June 1890 53

Austin Dickinson to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 10 October 1890 55

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, "Preface" to Poems, 1890 56

Mabel Loomis Todd, "Bright Bits from Bright Books," Home Magazine, 3 November 1890 58

E. Winchester Donald to Mabel Loomis Todd, 8-9 December 1890 61

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Correspondence with Mabel Loomis Todd, 1890 62

Susan Dickinson to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, December 1890 65

John White Chadwick, "Poems by Emily Dickinson" (review), Christian Register, 18 December 1890 66

William Dean Howells, "Editor's Study" (review), Harper's New Monthly Magazine, January 1891 69

Andrew Lang, "The Newest Poet" (review), Daily News (London), 2 January 1891 74

Thomas Niles to Mabel Loomis Todd, 17 February 1891 78

Lavinia Dickinson to Thomas Niles, 24 February 1891 78

Susan and William Austin Dickinson, Correspondence with William Hayes Ward, February and March 1891 79

S. J. Barrows to Mabel Loomis Todd, 1891 83

Charles E. L. Wingate, "Boston Letter" The Critic, 9 May 1891 (excerpt) 84

Mabel Loomis Todd to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 25 July 1891 85

Samuel G. Ward to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 11 October 1891 85

Mabel Loomis Todd, Journal entry, Amherst, 18 October 1891 (excerpt) 86

Alice James, Diary entry, 6 January 1892 87

Elihu Vedder to Lavinia Dickinson, 19 January 1892 88

"Letters" (1891), Letters (1894), and Poems (1896) 94

Thomas Wentworth Higginson. "Emily Dickinson's Letters," Atlantic Monthly, October 1891 94

Emily Fowler Ford, Letters to Lavinia Dickinson and Memoir, 1893 109

Caroline Healey Dall, "Two Women's Books" (review), Boston Evening Transcript, 22 December 1894 116

Lavinia Dickinson to Caroline Healey Doll, 29 January 1895 119

E. Winchester Donald to Mabel Loomis Todd, 29 December 1894 120

Rupert Hughes, "The Ideas of Emily Dickinson" (review), Godey's Magazine. November 1896 121

Bliss Carman, "A Note on Emily Dickinson" (review), Boston Evening Transcript, 21 November 1896 127

Memoirs By Friends and Family, 1891-1906 134

MacGregor Jenkins, "A Child's Recollections of Emily Dickinson," Christian Union, 24 October 1891 134

Clara Newman Turner, Reminiscences, c. 1896 137

Henrietta Mack Eliot, "Was She a Recluse?" Portland Sunday Oregonian, 19 March 1899 (excerpt) 147

Louisa Norcross "Housework Defended" (letter), Woman's Journal, March 1904 149

Part 3 Twentieth-Century Recognition and Remembrance 155

Re-Imaging Dickinson 157

Martha Dickinson Bianchi, "The Editor's Preface" The Single Hound: Poems of a Lifetime, 1914 157

Amy Lowell, "Imagism Past and Present: Emily Dickinson," lecture delivered at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 20 March 1918 163

Daniel Bliss, The Reminiscences of Daniel Bliss, 1920 (excerpt) 174

Martha Dickinson Bianchi, Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson, 1924 (excerpt) 175

Clara Bellinger Green, "The Sketch Book: A Reminiscence of Emily Dickinson," The. Bookman, November 1924 179

Centennial Reminiscences 183

MacGregor Jenkins, Emily Dickinson Friend and Neighbor, 1930 (excerpt) 183

Gertrude Graves, "A Cousin's Memories of Emily Dickinson," Boston Globe. 12 January 1930 (excerpt) 185

(Lois) Ella Cowles Ellis and Jenny Lind Cowles, Reminiscences, c. 1932 187

Sources and Permissions 189.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-193) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

ISBN:

9781609383916

1609383915

OCLC:

907660101

Publisher Number:

99966256505