The Literary Year: 10 December

Happy birthday to Emily Dickinson, born 190 years ago today.

My personal experience of Dickinson's work began with this poem. It arrived at a moment when I was young enough to be excited by it - the Frigate and Courser metaphors spoke seductively of some of my favourite stories, at the time: Treasure Island, King Arthur, The Three Musketeers ... I was also old enough to understand that on a secondary level, the poem spoke to a deepening realisation of how important reading was to me, perhaps that there was a me, a person who defined themselves as a reader, and increasingly making choices about his/my reading tastes and journey.

It's probably the first 'adult' poem I memorised, too. In some ways this pays tribute to Dickinson's style. It's deceptively simple, spare (almost 'frugal', to use Dickinson's adjective), and yet incredibly profound, and on a spiritual level with much of her other work.

If you enjoyed this poem, why not try '"Hope" is the thing with feathers'?

If you want a PDF copy of the graphic, there's one here.

Calendar 1210 E_Dickinson.pdf

Download PDF • 101KB

Finally, I've been 'unofficially' doing this sort of thing for years (ie celebrating author milestones, etc. throughout the year). Shall I do more like this one, on here?

Let me know!