Memories of Emily Dickinson
 Emily Elizabeth Dickinson December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886 |
Most notable of these were Mrs Martha Robinson at Horace O'Bryant Junior High School in Key West, Florida during the late 1960s. We read from Dickinson in the English classes she taught in both the seventh and eighth grades.
Mrs Robinson was more tolerant of me than many of the others with the exception of Mr Jack Estol Swinger and Mr C Theodore Sands who were my buddies from the beginning through the bitter end.
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. She was born in Massachusetts and I came to understand several people from that state intimately and her prominence in that area of the country lead her down the path of education to include Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke Female Seminary.
Like me, she was pretty much the consummate loner. Like me she was also considered to be eccentric. Throughout these characteristics which excluded guests by and large she was a prolific poet who wrote around 1,800 poems ... though less than a dozen or so of these were published during her lifetime.
So those undiscovered talents remained so during her lifetime and that intellect and wordsmith she commanded was unappreciated by her contemporaries.
Now, things are different. Emily Dickinson had her way with the pen, rhyme scheme, and meter. Having written a fair amount of poetry over the years I can say that her efforts are well worth reading and I have been known to read favorite pieces thoughout my lifetime thus far.
A Man may make a Remark (952)
A Man may make a Remark -
In itself - a quiet thing
That may furnish the Fuse unto a Spark
In dormant nature - lain -
Let us divide - with skill -
Let us discourse - with care -
Powder exists in Charcoal -
Before it exists in Fire -
Emily Dickinson - 1830-1886