Hope is a subtle glutton;
He feeds upon the fair;
And yet, inspected closely,
What abstinence is there!
His is the halcyon table
That never seats but one,
And whatsoever is consumed
The same amounts remain.
Podcast music by Clair Fitch
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English department graduate students at the University of Texas are now loafing about in the Emily Dickinson Graduate Student Lounge, thanks to the largess of a professor (not in the English department) who was inspired by “his love for English literature and Emily Dickinson.” The amenities of the lounge include “[t]hree new, oversized couches . . . , . . . new tables, silk trees, pieces to help with organization and new appliances like an espresso machine.” Oh, and also “a fountain and . . . a piano.”
Not bad digs for a graduate student lounge. I recall that my own “lounge” (which the American Studies department shared with the history department) consisted of a couple of cast-off, uncomfortable armchairs, a battered wooden table, and a coffee pot that contained the burnt remains of too many gallons of Maxwell House to dare add more. And the room of cluttered desks that the English department had wasn’t much better.
This anonymous professor is also turning his attention to the neglected lounges of the music and drama departments.
Having been a graduate student, I question the wisdom of making a graduate lounge so well-appointed and comfortable. If my lounge had been more welcoming than the library, I would probably have spent less time in the stacks; and with a fountain and a piano to keep me company, I might be in grad school still. The glimmer of hope in this is that the slovenly ways of English department grad students will take its toll in short order, and they’ll make it grim and uncomfortable again . . .
Our journey had advanced;
Our feet were almost come
To that odd fork in Being’s road,
Eternity by term.
Our pace took sudden awe,
Our feet reluctant led.
Before were cities, but between,
The forest of the dead.
Retreat was out of hope, –
Behind, a sealed route,
Eternity’s white flag before,
And God at every gate.
Arcturus is his other name, –
I’d rather call him star!
It’s so unkind of science
To go and interfere!
I pull a flower from the woods, –
A monster with a glass
Computes the stamens in a breath,
And has her in a class.
Whereas I took the butterfly
Aforetime in my hat,
He sits erect in cabinets,
The clover-bells forgot.
What once was heaven, is zenith now.
Where I proposed to go
When time’s brief masquerade was done,
Is mapped, and charted too!
What if the poles should frisk about
And stand upon their heads!
I hope I ‘m ready for the worst,
Whatever prank betides!
Perhaps the kingdom of Heaven ‘s changed!
I hope the children there
Won’t be new-fashioned when I come,
And laugh at me, and stare!
I hope the father in the skies
Will lift his little girl, –
Old-fashioned, naughty, everything, –
Over the stile of pearl!
Tags: children, flower, fly, hope, Love, men, skies, star, woods
‘Tis the busy holiday buying season, all a-glitter and a-dazzle with things that blink and beep and demand our attention. There are still a few quiet corners of commerce, though, and some of them feature items that might delight a Dickinson lover.
At Shakespeare’s Den, find a silk scarf with Emily Dickinson poems printed on it. (Found by way of Cheryl Rainfield; she lists quite a few other items that book lovers would love to find in their stockings.)
littlebuttons offers an Emily Dickinson tote bag at Etsy.
Also at Etsy, papermenagerie offers several Gocco-print cards featuring Dickinson verse and Victorian engravings.
Here’s a lovely little necklace featuring the first two lines of “Hope is the thing with feathers”, at the Signals shop (the Public Broadcasting catalog spinoff).
letterarypress offers poetic letterpress cards.
Inspired by La Pulcina and the Clothespin Repertory Theatre? Start casting your own miniature Amherst opera with a magnetic Emily Dickinson finger puppet.
The Emily Dickinson Museum offers a lovely poster by Penelope Dullaghan.
The official Daily Dickinson 2008 Calendar is available, featuring poems and pictures that have been featured on this site.
And, of course, there are the Daily Dickinson note cards, featuring photos from this site and the words of Emily Dickinson.
Tags: bee, book, drop, first, hope, Love, men, nothing, poem, sea, snow, star
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I ‘ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
Yvonne Hudson, whose one-woman show “Mrs. Shakespeare” received critical acclaim when it played the Tribeca Playhouse in NYC and the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh, turns her attention now to Emily Dickinson in her new show, “The Poet Lights the Lamp”. As Pittsburgh Live notes about the upcoming performance at the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus:
Hudson, appearing as Emily, shares the inspirations and tribulations of the writing life. Drawn from Emily’s letters and works, and the observations of those who knew the prolific and reclusive poet, this solo presentation features a replica of the writer’s white dress, designed by Pitt Theatre’s Cindy Albert. Hudson reveals the poet’s sly wit and passion for publishing through Emily’s own words and her original script.
Note that this is NOT “The Belle of Amherst”, the well-known one-woman show about Emily Dickinson that has been revived this season by the Woods Hole Theater Company on Cape Code, the Independent Players in Elgin, IL, Hope College in Holland, MI, and, perhaps most buzz-worthy, Lindsay Crouse with the Gloucester Stage.
Dickinson certainly lends herself well to the intimacy of the one-woman-show format. There is a wink and a nod in most of her poems; they’re not chatty, but they do suggest that the reader lean forward a little bit, listen a little closer, and take away some pearls of wit.
I’ve found precious little about this new show–only a few notes of its October 20 performance–but the title is evocative. It suggests illumination and insight, and also that sort of close intimacy that comes when people sit down together in a dark room with just a dim lamp to cast shadows while they discuss nlife, love, nature, time, and eternity.
If you’re in Pittsburgh for homecoming weekend, swing over to the show ($5 with a student ID!), and then drop us a line here at the Daily Dickinson; we’d love for someone to share a review of this new work if they’ve got a moment to spare.
Tags: away, bee, buzz, drop, eternity, hope, house, land, Life, Love, men, Nature, october, poem, sea, woods
Keeping Up with Emily
