One thing about Emily Dickinson: she knew how to get into people's heads! I happen to believe that she completely foresaw the fame that would accrue to her after her death and had everything all planned out. Certainly today she's bigger than ever -- which is not exactly the case with her contemporaries Sidney Lanier, Posey Fellows, and Clement Longworth Washington!
For many years the image on the left below was thought to be the only photograph of Emily Dickinson. But as interest in the the Belle of Amherst grows new photos are beginning to surface. The picture on the right, for instance, belongs to the heirs of Eleanor Means Shufflemaster -- a friend of Emily's during her time at Mount Holyoke and her teammate in freshman field hockey. Both these pictures are believed to have been taken during winter of 1847 -- and possibly even on the same day. Why the hell not?
In an unpublished autobiography recently made public by her descendants, Eleanor Means Shufflemaster sheds light on "the real Emily" -- a girl perhaps better represented in the newly revealed photo than in the well-known formally posed representation.
"Emily was a fucking wild woman!" Eleanor writes, "but she loved to put people on and dress up like Little Bo Peep and bat her eyelashes and stuff. During the day she would act really shy but at night we'd stay up all night in the dorm and Emily would be just totally different and running around in her bra and chain smoking and throwing water balloons out the windows. She was an unbelievable mimic! We had this English professor named E. Compton Buzzard -- that was actually his name! -- and Emily could imitate him just perfectly. Oh my God it was so hilarious! I was literally rolling on the floor!"
Here the top photo is quite a recent find, and it has a fascinating story. It was actually sold on ebay! You can read about it here: http://www.unc.edu/~gura/dickinson/index.html On the back of this photo is written, "Emily Dickinson dec 1886." And Emily did indeed die in 1886! Plus, it turns out the photo is actually a copy of one taken much earlier. The history of this picture a real treasure hunt that can bring you many delightful hours.
The lower photo is striking similar in many respects -- and there's also some writing on the back of this one: To comprehend a nectar requires sorest need. This of course is a quote from one of Emily's poems. In fact, it's from one of the few poems published in her lifetime. Is the quote in some way connected to the photo of the poet, if indeed it is the poet? What exactly is the connection? And what the hell does that line mean, anyway? I have my opinion. What do you think?
The very poem quoted is commented on by Montcalm Le Bay, a bilingual follower of Proust and precursor of Perec, who wrote "The Book of No Tomorrow" (1939) in which a character named Pierre Troyat wanders in a desert like Simon or Crusoe and wards off hunger and despair by parsing lines of verse that he had committed to memory in his youth. Here is the relevant passage:
"To comprerend a nectar requires sorest need." Not merely ingestion but true understanding of the nectar is called for. What nectar? It could be that of the apricot, or of the gods, but the need for it (whether translated as thirst or habit-forming curiosity born of idleness and leisure and praised like the lasses of youth) is imperative. O, empirical dominance, everyday diary, entire dilemma, exact drama.
(Notice the spinkling of Emily Dickinson's initials in the last sentence.) It is highly probable that the actual nectar contained an opiate.
Posted by: Sylvie Planet | August 04, 2008 at 09:45 PM
certainly true what you say about emily's initials. of course there are secret messages throughout her work. i'll have more to say about this in a future post. thanks for your comment!
Posted by: | August 04, 2008 at 11:01 PM
Terrific post, and it confirms what I've long suspected: that ED was a dormitory tigress, crazy pot-smoking sexy princess. Speaking of her initials, I had a dream in which she commented that her blessed initials, which once stood for "editor," now stand for "erectile dysfunction" and that half the world seems to have it. In the same dream, she talked about what Byron, Shelley, and Keats were like as lovers. I believe Keats was very dear to her through prone to premature ejaculation.
Posted by: DL | August 05, 2008 at 12:33 PM
that's very a very interresting dream, david. i also have dreamed about emily as i'm sure many people have. as i mentioned, she had/has a way of really getting into people's heads. i would not be surprsied if she and the poets you mention have been lovers in the upper world. if you see her again, ask her about james dean.
Posted by: | August 05, 2008 at 10:16 PM