Literary DUers! Just marked the 175th anniv. of Emily Dickinson's

birth. What is your favorite work of hers?

Mine is this one, and I offer it for the New Year:

I dwell in Possibility-
A fairer House than Prose-
More numerous of Windows-
Superior- for Doors-

Of Chambers as the Cedars-
Impregnable of Eye-
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky-

Of Visitors-the fairest-
For Occupation- This-
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise-

(I was going to post this on the DU Lounge, but given the level of some of its threads, I thought Emily would be more comfortable here).

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

Or rather, be passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

The way I ruined it for my high school literature teacher.

A lot of her poems can be read to the tune of the Yellow Rose of Texas.

I mentioned that in class, and my teacher said, "Yeah, whatever, TlalocW."

Then while we were working on our in-class assignment, he sat down at his desk, took out a book and started reading a page, and I noticed his head was bobbing slightly. His brow furrowed, and he flipped to another section of the book and repeated the process. After about 5 flips, he yelled, "DAMN YOU, TLALOCW! YOU'VE RUINED DICKINSON FOR ME!"

TlalocW

If you do then you are a funny little person. She was one of the finest poets of the English language.

I had heard the Yellow Rose of Texas thing years ago. It is understandable that Emily makes people feel uneasy. She is difficult to figure out (she didn't write for more of a public than her close friends and family to whom she sent her poems). Because of this difficulty, and rather than sit down and really experience her genius, people focus on her "hymn tune" rhythm, so called because you can sing some of her verses to numerous Protestant hymns of the 19th century.

I'll tell you what: Take a look at some of her poetry in various collections or on web sites devoted to her. You will find something she has written that will get to you (she wrote almost 1800 poems in her 55 years!}. If you want to experience her passion try the poem that begins "Wild nights!" or "Dare you see a soul in the white heat?" if you have had recent sorrow and agony in your life read "After great pain a formal feeling comes" (none of her poems have titles so you have to find them by first lines). "My life had stood a loaded gun" will also be an eye opener.

Let me know what you think!

If all the griefs I am to have/ Would only come today/ I am so happy I believe/ They'd laugh and run away!

or how about Inebriate of Air--am I--/And debauchee of Dew--/ Reeling--thro endless summer days--/ From inns of Molten Blue --

or A word is dead/ When it is said/ Some say./ I say it just/ Begins to live/ That day.

Emily doesn't fail to surprise us, does she. Those lines are in a poem I discussed in my Final Project for my master's degree. What a labor of love that was!