(1830–1886)
U.S. poet“But it is growing damp and I must go in. Memory’s fog is rising.”
more infosource: letter to her Louise and Frances Norcross, July 1884, in Emily Dickinson Letters (New York: Random House, 2011), 157.
medium: Letter
“Carlo died—
Would you instruct me now?”
source: The Letters of Emily Dickinson vol 2, ed. by Thomas H. Johnson (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1958), 449.
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category: death, dog, grief, mourning, pet
medium: letter
notes: letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, late January 1866 — Carlo was Dickinson's Newfoundland, her "shaggy ally" — more info about Carlo here
“Sorrow almost resents love, it is so inflamed.”
more infosource: January 1878 letter to Mrs. Samuel Bowles, in Emily Dickinson Letters, Emily Fragos ed. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), 198.
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category: grief, mourning, sorrow
medium: Letter
“I wish one could be sure the suffering had a loving side. The thought to look down some day, and see the crooked steps we came, from a safer place, must be a precious thing…”
more infosource: May 1862 letter to Louise and Frances Norcross, in Emily Dickinson Letters, Emily Fragos ed. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), 194.
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category: depression, grief, mourning, suffering
medium: Letter
“Do you look out to-night? The moon rides like a girl through a topaz town.”
more infosource: January 1862 letter to Samuel Bowles, in Emily Dickinson Letters, Emily Fragos ed. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), 193.
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category: moon
medium: Letter
“You asked me to come and see you—I must speak of that. I thank you, A., but I don’t go from home, unless emergency leads me by the hand, and then I do it obstinately, and draw back if I can. Should I ever leave home, which is improbable, I will, with much delight, accept your invitation; till then, my dear A., my warmest thanks are yours, but don’t expect me.”
more infosource: ca. July 26, 1853 letter to Abiah Root, in Letters: Emily Dickinson, selected and ed. by Emily Fragos (New York: Everyman’s Library, 2011), 116.
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category: introvert, socializing
medium: Letter
“Into the little port you cannot sail unwelcome at any hour of day or night.”
more infosource: Autumn 1869 letter to Louisa and Frances Norcross, Dickinson’s first cousins, in Letters: Emily Dickinson, selected and ed. by Emily Fragos (New York: Everyman’s Library, 2011), 55.
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category: family, friendship, love, port, sea
medium: Letter
“I think you would like the chestnut-tree I met in my walk. It hit my notice suddenly, and I thought the skies were in blossom.”
more infosource: 1862 letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, in Letters of Emily Dickinson, vol. 1 (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1894), 308.
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category: chestnut, nature, sky, tree
medium: Letter
“An honest Tear
Is durabler than Bronze—”
source: No. 1192, in Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (New York: Back Bay Books, 1976), 528.
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category: bronze, honesty, strength, tear
medium: Poetry
“I hope your rambles have been sweet, and your reveries spacious.”
more infosource: Letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, summer 1878, in The letters of Emily Dickinson 1845-1886, ed. by Mabel Loomis Todd (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1906), 328.
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category: daydream, ramble, reverie, wander
medium: Letter
“My flowers are near and foreign, and I have but to cross the floor to stand in the Spice Isles.”
more infosource: The Letters of Emily Dickinson vol 2, ed. by Thomas H. Johnson (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1958), 449.
category: flower, garden, nature
medium: letter
notes: letter to Mrs. J. G. Holland, early March 1866
“Narcotics cannot still the Tooth
That nibbles at the soul.—”
source: Final Harvest (Boston, MA: Back Bay Books, 1964), 124.
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category: depression, narcotic, pain, painkiller
medium: poetry
“My garden is all covered up by snow; picked gilliflower Tuesday, now gilliflowers are asleep. The hills take off their purple frocks, and dress in long white nightgowns.”
more infosource: The Letters of Emily Dickinson vol 2, ed. by Thomas H. Johnson (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1958), 228.
category: color, garden, nature, purple, snow, white, winter
medium: letter
notes: letter to Louise Norcross, Dickinson's first cousin, December 1860?
“I cooked the peaches as you told me, and they swelled to beautiful fleshy halves and tasted quite magic.”
more infosource: The Letters of Emily Dickinson vol 2, ed. by Thomas H. Johnson (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1958), 471.
category: cooking, food, peach, recipe, taste
medium: letter
notes: letter to Louisa Norcross (addressed Louise in the letter), Dickinson's first cousin, May 1870?; more info about her here
“A mutual plum is not a plum. I was too respectful to take the pulp and do not like a stone.”
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Emily Dickinson