Take a free online course on Emily Dickinson, starting March 6!!

[educate.barnesandnoble.com]

Hmmm, I don't suppose they have a class on Poe. Thanks for the link Talia, here's another which contains all the poems without the hype: [www.csustan.edu]


Les

Remember, she's the reason I'm here at eMule...so you can thank or curse her.

What, Talia or Emily?

Emily

Ok, I am enrolled, thanks. I assume I don't really need to purchase the textbooks? I ordered My Wars Are Laid Away in Books from the library, but I am guessing any good book (or online collection) will have all the poems. Come to think of it, I have them all on my hard drive anyway.

Are we gonna find out whether she was a dyke or not?

[tinyurl.com]

I note that Emily Dickinson is also a perfect candidate for a double dactyl, but I don't remember writing one about her (puts on to-do list).

Dyke....i think not:

[www.sparknotes.com]

Quote from the above site:

"Dickinson particularly enjoyed Dickens and Longfellow"

I don't remember where it's from, but the phrase "he indecently exposed his mind" seems highly appropriate.




Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2006 03:36AM by Veronika.

It's also highly appropriate as a reply to Johnny's post. It's clear you guys aren't into victorian decency ;-)

Emily Dickinson is also a perfect candidate for a double dactyl ?

Who do you think she is, Edna St Vincent Millay?

I'm not into Victorian decency either (and maybe that's why Johnny's comments rarely or never bother me).




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2006 08:46AM by Veronika.

I think the acceptable term is "levees"

I am thinking that 'neighbor to lunch' and 'carpet to munch' might be candidates for lines 4 and 8 of the DD. Lickety-Slickety is obviously line #1. With Emily Dickinson as line 2, that leaves only four to go - half done already!

"I like to see it lap the miles,
And lick the valleys up,"

"But I was not a 'Diver' "

I here flies buzzing all the time, but it has nothing to do with stopping for tea.


Les

Because I could not stop for tea
He kindly poured for me—
The teacup held a fluid ounce
Of Immorality.

unles it's Mr Freeze's

Stopping for Tea on a Snowy Evening:

Whose tea this is I think I know.
His cup is in the village, though;
He will not see me sipping here
To drink darjeeling in the snow.

Because I could not stop for tea
He kindly poured for me—
The teacup held a fluid ounce
Of Immorality.

That is classic satire...


Les

Thanks Les....remember "Satirical"? and how he would never actually write anything satirical? He should have called himself Ironical !

Of course, odes of immortality,
are not my cup of tea
and bird upon the walk
is not a funeral in my brain


Les

Higgledy-piggledy
Emily Dickinson
Liked to use dashes
Instead of full stops.

Nowadays, faced with such
Idiosyncrasy,
Critics and editors
Send for the cops.

-- Wendy Cope

JSC
not ironic, just iron...

what is decency?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2022 03:10PM by jerrygarner7.

Aha, so you think you know Emily, take this quiz and see how deep your knowledge flows: [www.funtrivia.com]


Les

Jerry, reminded me of a Pogo quote "him have nerves of steel, and head to match"

Select isn't bad, he was just drawn that way..or is that Jessica Rabbit?

Les, I got a zero, but since I gave joke answers, I expected nothing less !

I didn't do much better, Johnny. Take consolation in the fact that the average score on this quiz is 2/10. In which case, I think we should grade on a curve.


Les

I still hold firm in my belief that she wrote "The Gilligans Island Theme" and "Mary had a little lamb"

oh yes, and "The Yellow Rose of Texas"

To those two I would venture a guess she began anorexics anonymous. But, it's just a guess.


Les

Sketty Cat is bulimic, except he doesn't throw up.

Like his predecessor Manuel, he's Fat Tuesday and every other day

On a more serious note, here's a link to sources about Emily from the site listed above: [www.emilydickinsononline.net]

Les

Aha, so you think you know Emily, take this quiz and see how deep your knowledge flows: [www.funtrivia.com]

I fear those guys got at least one of their own answers wrong:

"What's the next line following the excerpt from number 3?

Your Answer At Recess -- in the Ring -- Incorrect

The correct answer is At Recess - in the Ring - & at recess in the ring & At Recess in the Ring."

I guess it is hard to program the response to accept different emdashes, though.

"'Yet certain I am of the spot as if the _____________ were given.'

Your Answer checks Incorrect

The correct answer is check. "

I believe the plural 'checks' is correct, y'all.

"In the poem 'Because I could not Stop for Death' the line 'We passed the setting sun' is followed by what line?

Your Answer Or rather -- He passed Us -- Incorrect

The correct answer is Or rather he passed us & Or rather he passed us.. "

Besides having the ellipse incorrectly done, they again missed giving credit for the emdash.

And what about the instructions at the top of the page. They seem to suggest one has to guess the words Emily wrote that were changed by the editors, no?

Introduction:

"Emily Dickinson's poems were edited before their final publication because the publishers were baffled by the originality of her word choice and rhyme scheme (or in many case lack thereof). Can you tell the original from the 'edited'? Fill in the blanks"

Tell what original from what edited words? There were no such choices given in the quiz.

Yeah, I know, I complain too much.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2022 10:20AM by Hugh Clary.

Found a Churchill quote that explains what's wrong with me - think you may have the same problem, Hugh

"Consistency is the hobgoblin of the small mind'

I also like 'You have to be 100% behind someone to stab them in the back' but that has no relevance whatsoever to this thread. It also isn't Churchill.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2022 11:19AM by marian2.

All right Hugh, if you don't like that Emily Dickinson quiz, try this one:

[www.funtrivia.com]

I think we'll all score better here.


Les

"'Yet certain I am of the spot as if the _____________ were given.'
My answer? Carbona

Yeah, I did better on the 2nd trivia quiz. Carbona? No entiendo. Grafenberg, sure.

>I ordered My Wars Are Laid Away in Books from the library ...

Well, I read this one yesterday, if you consider quickly skimming through its some 750 pages looking for something interesting as 'reading' it. Suitable only for a doorstop, my view, though plenty heavy enough for one.

Hopefully, the rest of the course will be better?

Couldn't put it down? Nope, couldn't pick it UP !

I ended up with this one for the Emily roast, and posted it on the Introductions section. I hope they don't kick me out of the class for being too lubricious!

Lickety - Slickety
Emily Dickinson
Often invited her
Neighbor to lunch;

Susan said Emmy was
Persianivorous:
All she provided was
Carpet to munch.

From "Stabbed, I Swim":

Moisten your fingers in deep meditation
It’s millstone not milestone so take it to lunch
The rarefied woodcutters slow their entombment
So lay me a carpet and thank me a bunch

Here is perfect proof that Emily Dickinson was not a lesbian:

Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes

First, her tippet made of tulle,
easily lifted off her shoulders and laid
on the back of a wooden chair.

And her bonnet,
the bow undone with a light forward pull.

Then the long white dress, a more
complicated matter with mother-of-pearl
buttons down the back,
so tiny and numerous that it takes forever
before my hands can part the fabric,
like a swimmer's dividing water,
and slip inside.

You will want to know
that she was standing
by an open window in an upstairs bedroom,
motionless, a little wide-eyed,
looking out at the orchard below,
the white dress puddled at her feet
on the wide-board, hardwood floor.

The complexity of women's undergarments
in nineteenth-century America
is not to be waved off,
and I proceeded like a polar explorer
through clips, clasps, and moorings,
catches, straps, and whalebone stays,
sailing toward the iceberg of her nakedness.

Later, I wrote in a notebook
it was like riding a swan into the night,
but, of course, I cannot tell you everything -
the way she closed her eyes to the orchard,
how her hair tumbled free of its pins,
how there were sudden dashes
whenever we spoke.

What I can tell you is
it was terribly quiet in Amherst
that Sabbath afternoon,
nothing but a carriage passing the house,
a fly buzzing in a windowpane.

So I could plainly hear her inhale
when I undid the very top
hook-and-eye fastener of her corset

and I could hear her sigh when finally it was unloosed,
the way some readers sigh when they realize
that Hope has feathers,
that reason is a plank,
that life is a loaded gun
that looks right at you with a yellow eye.

-- Billy Collins

Satire at its best, Talia. Thanks for sharing that.


Les

Because I could not stop for tea
He kindly poured for me—
The teacup held a fluid ounce
Of Immorality.

That is classic satire... (said Les)




Parody more likely, but the Billy Collins is satire!