Splatters of Poetry

Editing Emily

Do you know what I hate? People who try to edit Emily Dickinson. Sorry, I just came from my english lecture-allow me to elaborate. Emily Dickinson, as you may or may not be aware, is a poet who lived in the 19th century (1830-1886) and I have my suspicions that she just might be the most brilliant writer EVER. Her poems are eloquent, witty and beautiful. Unlike so many poets of her time, she does not suffer from "verbal diarrhea" - nothing is ever wasted.

The problem with Emily, is that her work does not resolve. She uses almost no punctuation, capitalizes words wherever she feels like it and often leaves her verses hanging with a rhyme that isn't quite what you want it to be. I think they do this sort of thing in music too...what do you call it...off beat? Anyway, most of Emily's work was not published until after her death so people thought that they should "tie up loose ends" before showing it to the world. Today in lecture, we looked at some originals and compared them to the edited versions. It may seem silly to get so emotional over someone who is dead, but when I saw what the editors did to Emily, I thought I was going to cry. Her poetry was so beautifully mysterious- but they sucked her dry of all complexity until her words were nothing but hallmark style clichés. Personally, I think her editors (who were probably a bunch of bitter, old men) were just jealous. Jealous that they were not so brilliant. Maybe they were a little angry too, at Emily's ambiguity. Angry at the way she refused to be simple and romantic and "feminine" like they wanted her to be.

I always thought that Emily Dickinson should have married Claude Monet. He would have understood her. He would not have tried to make her be sentimental and romantic. I think they would have had spent many pleasant afternoons together out in the garden, she writing her poems and he painting the sky. I think they would have been very much in love and have cast secret adoring glances across the lawn when they thought the other one wasn't looking.

posted by Erin @ 6:26 PM