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College of Arts and Sciences




Engl. 875-01

Seminar: Emily Dickinson


Spring 2006

MWF 10:00-10:50, Rm. 312

Instructor: Dr. K. Nichols



*


Reading Schedule



Abbreviations:

ED = Emily Dickinson;
J = Complete Poems edited by Johnson;
L = Selected Letters edited by Johnson;
EDH = Emily Dickinson Handbook edited by Grabher.



WEEK ONE. INTRODUCTION

  • Jan.20
    Introduction
    Hand-outs: Martin, "Chronology," Cambridge Companion to ED, xiv-xv.
    Writing Assignment: Letters/Biography Reports (due Feb 6-17). See Letter Report directions (online).


WEEK TWO: POEMS/MANUSCRIPTS/FASCICLES/LETTER POEMS

  • Jan.23
    Biography: short ED biography (online).
    Criticism: Jane Donahue Eberwein, "D's Local, Global, and Cosmic Perspectives," EDH, 27-42.
    Close-Reading Handout: Farr, Passion of ED, 329-31.
    Poems: J 712 Because I could not stop for Death; J 303 The Soul selects; J 675 Essential Oils.

  • Jan.25
    Criticism: Suzanne Juhasz, "Materiality and the Poet," EDH, 427-36.
    Poems: J 315 He fumbles at your Soul; J 323 As if I asked; J 508 I'm ceded. J 506 He touched Me; J 605 The Spider Holds a Silver Ball; J 1138 A Spider sewed at Night; J 1275 The Spider as an Artist.

  • Jan. 27
    Poems: J 216 Safe in their Alabaster Chambers (2 versions); J 301 I reason .
    Criticism: Martha Nell Smith, "D's Manuscripts," EDH, 113-37.
    Online: ED Writing a Poem (online images of ED manuscripts--click on various links and browse through the examples.)
    Browse (in-class): Franklin, The Manuscript Books of ED; envelope poems; variants in Johnson's 3-vol.poems and in Hart/Smith, Open Me Carefully.
    Handout: Fascicle Lists
    Topic Selection: Seminar Paper. See Seminar Paper directions (online). Topic selection due by Feb. 3.


WEEK THREE: POEMS/MANUSCRIPTS/FASCICLES/LETTER POEMS

  • Jan.30
    Criticism: Sharon Cameron, "D's Fascicles," EDH, 138-60
    Fascicle 21: J 609 I--Years had been; 610 You'll find; 611 I see thee better; 447 Could--I do more; J 612 It would have starved; J 613 They shut me up; J 448 This was a poet; J 614 In falling Timbers; J 449 I died for beauty; J 450 Dreams--are well; J 451 The Outer--from the Inner; J 174 At last--to be identified; J 452 The Malay--took; J 453 Love--thou art; J 615 Our journey had advanced; J 616 I rose--because; J 454 It was given to me.

    Feb. 1
    Criticsm: Agnieszka Salska, "D's Letters," EDH, 163-80
    Fascicle 21--continued.

    Feb. 3
    Criticism: Gudrun Grabher, "D's Lyrical Self," EDH, 235-8; and Paul Crumbley, "D's Dialogic Voice," EDH, 93-109.
    Fascicle 21--continued.
    TOPIC SELECTION DUE.


WEEK FOUR: LETTERS AND RELATIONSHIPS

All students read these letters to various recipients: L 18; L 26; L 36; L 42; L 46; L 110; L 125; L 166; L 389; L 1046.

Recommended: Read Cynthia Griffin Wolff, "Mother and Father," ED, 36-65 (Library Reserve).


  • Feb. 6
    Oral/Written Report #1: Letters/Poems to Sue Gilbert Dickinson, Part I (30 min.).

    All students read these letters to Sue: L 56; L 73; L 93; L 94; L 173; L 238; L 757; L 868.
    All students read these poems to Sue: J 14 One Sister; J 84 Her breast; J 156 You love me; J 158 Dying! Dying; J 299 Your Riches; J 446 I showed her Heights; J 452 The Malay took; J 458 Like Eyes; J 479 She dealt her pretty words; J 578 Her sweet weight; J 586 We talked as Girls; J 631 Ourselves were wed; J 858 This Chasm, Sweet; J 1401 To own a Susan.

    Feb. 8
    Oral/Written Report #2: Letters/Poems to Sue Gilbert Dickinson, Part II (30 min).

    All students read same letters and poems as are listed for Feb. 6.

    Feb. 10
    Oral/Written Report #3: Letters/Poems to Samuel Bowles (30 min).

    All students read these letters to Bowles: L 196; L 219; L 223; L 250; L 251; L 277; L 489; L 536.
    All students read these poems to Bowles/Master: J 106 The Daisy follows; J 201 Two swimmers; J 211 Come slowly--Eden; J 236 I he dissolve; J 249 Wild Nights; J 322 There came a Day; J 336 The face I carry; J 339 I tend my flowers; J 461 A wife - at daybreak; J 462 Why make it doubt; J 480 Why do I love thee; J 511 If you were coming; J 638 To my small Hearth; J 640 I cannot live with you; J 738 You said that I was Great; J 1059 Sang from the Heart; J 1721 He was my host; J 1072 Title divine.


WEEK FIVE: LETTERS AND RELATIONSHIPS

  • Feb. 13
    Oral/Written Report #4: Letters/Poems to Master and to Otis Lord (30 Min.)

    All students read these letters to Master: L 187; L 233; L 248. Letters to Lord: L 559; L 560; L 561; L 562; L 752.
    All students read same Bowles/Master poems as are listed for Feb. 10.
    All students read these letters to Lord: L 559; L 560; L 561; L 562; L 752.
    All students read these poems to Lord: J 1449 I thought the Train; J 1495 The Thrill came; J 1632 So give me back; J 1771 How fleet; J 1772 Let me not thirst; J 1773 The Summer that we did not.

    Feb. 15
    Oral/Written Report #5: Letters/Poems to Higginson (30 min.).

    All students read these letters to (and from) Higginson: L 260; L 261; L 265; L 268; L 271; L 280; L 316; L 330; L330a; L 342a; L 342b; L 418.
    All students read these poems to Higginson: J 320 We play at Paste; J 216 Safe in Alabaster; J 319 The nearest Dream; J 318 I'll tell you how the Sun; J 322 There came a Day; J 321 Of all the Sounds; J 86 South Winds; J 323 As if I asked; J 325 Of Tribulation; J 67 Success is counted; J 299 Your Riches; J 324 Some keep the Sabbath; J 327 Before I go my eye; J 326 I cannot dance; J 524 Departed.

    Feb. 17
    Oral/Written Report 6: Letters/Poems to the Hollands and to Helen Hunt Jackson (30 min.).

    All students read these letters to the Hollands: L 133; l 175; L 269; L 432; L 779; L 890.
    All students read these poems to the Hollands: J 88 As by the dead; J 1265 The most triumphant; J 1075 The sky is low; J 1162 The Life we have; J 860 Absence disembodies.
    All students read these letters to (and from) Jackson: L 444; L 444a; L 573a; L573b; L 573c; L 601; L 601a; L 937; L937a.
    All students read these poems to Jackson: J 1337 Upon a Lilac Sea; J 1432 Spurn the Temerity; J 1463 A Route of Evanescence; J 1465 Before you thought of Spring?; J 1560 To be forgot by thee?; J 1600 Upon his Saddle; J 1601 Of God we ask; J 1602 Pursuing you; J 1640 Take all away; J 1751 There comes an hour; J 1619 Not knowing when the Dawn; J 1648 The immortality she gave; J 1647 Of Glory.



WEEK SIX: THE WOMAN POET: GENDER AND SEX ISSUES

Annotated Bib: Two article summaries this week. Recommended: Vivian Pollak, D: The Anxiety of Gender ; Martha Nell Smith, Rowing in Eden: Rereading ED ; Joanne Dobson, D and the Strategies of Reticence: The Woman Writer in 19th Century America. (Library Reserve).


  • Feb. 20
    Poem: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, , Book II (online).
    Poems: J 593 I think I was enchanted and J 312 Her--"last Poems" (Barrett-Browning poems); J 148 All overgrown (Bronte poem).

    Feb. 22
    Criticism: Dickie, "Feminist Conceptions of D." EDH, 342-55.
    Poems: J 24 There is a morn; J 250 I shall keep singing; J 271 A Solemn Thing--it was; J 307 The one who could; J 308 I send two sunsets; J 326 I cannot dance; J 356 The Day that I was crowned; J 365 Dare you see a soul; J 508 I'm ceded; J 448 This was a poet; J 488 Myself was formed a Carpenter; J 505 I would not paint; J 528 Mine--by the Right; J 544 The Martyr Poets; J 569 I reckon--when I count; J 613 They shut me up in Prose; J 657 I dwell in possibility; J 675 Essential Oils; J 691 Would you like Summer; J 722 Sweet Mountains; J 817 Given in Marriage; J 883 Poets light; J 918 Only a Shrine; J 1651 A Word made Flesh; J 1126 Shall I take thee; J 1142 The Props assist.

    Feb. 24
    Oral/Written Report #1: article (15 min.). Judith Farr, Passion of ED, 31-42 [woman in white] (Library Reserve) and Wendy Martin, "ED and Poetic Strategy," Cambridge Companion to ED, 77-89 (On reserve in instructor's office).
    Poems: J 271 A solemn thing; J 273 He put the Belt; J 214 I taste a liquor; J 273 Alone, I cannot be; J 325 Of Tribulation; J 338 Take your Heaven; J 418 Not in this World; J 463 I live with Him.


WEEK SEVEN: THE WOMAN POET: GENDER AND SEX ISSUES

Annotated Bib: Two article summaries this week. Recommended: Cheryl Walker, The Nightingale's Burden: Women Poets and American Culture Before 1900; Mary Loeffelholz, D. and the Boundaries of Feminist Theory (Library Reserve).


  • Feb. 27
    Poems--handouts: Eliza Earle, "Lines suggested on Reading . . .A.E. Grimke"; Lucy Larcom, "Weaving"; Elizabeth Stoddard, "Before the Mirror"; Harriet Prescott Spofford, "Pomegranate-Flowers; Terry Cooke, "Arachne"; reprinted in Paula Bennett, "ED and Her American Women Poet Peers" (see below). Poems by Lydia H. Sigourney, Frances Sargent Osgood, and Helen Hunt-Jackson.
    Poems: J 605 The Spider Holds; J 1138 A Spider Sewed; J 721 Before me dips; J 883 Poets light; J 1100 The last Night.
    Criticism: Paula Bennett, "ED and Her American Women Poet Peers," Cambridge Companion to ED, 215-34 (On reserve in instructor's office).

    Mar. 1
    Poems: J 199 I'm wife; J 250 Over the Fence; J 486 I was the slightest; J 493 The World Stands--solemn;J 732 She rose to his requirements; J 1072 Title Divine is mine;J 249 Wild Nights; J 401 What soft Cherubic; J 461 A wife at Daybreak; J 640 I cannot live; J 745 Renunciation; J 754 My Life had stood; J 528 Mine--by the Right; J 601 A still volcanic life; J 1705 Vesuvius at Home; J 1677 On my Volcano; J 392 Through the Sod; J 483 A solemn Thing within the soul; J 508 I'm ceded; J 789 On a Columnar Self; J 822 This Consciousness; J 1099 My Cocoon tightens.

    Mar. 3
    Oral/Written Report #2: article (15 min.). Bennett, "Of Genre, Gender, and Sex," ED Woman Poet, 150-84 (Library Reserve).
    Poems: J 1377 Forbidden Fruits; 246 Forever at his side; 275 Doubt Me!; 465 Why make it doubt; 84 Her breast is fit; 159 A little bread; 1529 Tis Seasons since; 211 Come slowly--Eden; 213 Did the Harebell; 334 All the letters; 518 Her sweet Weight; 1722 Her face was in; 239 "Heaven"--is what; 791 God gave a Loaf; 579 I had been hungry; 872 As the Starved Maelstrom; 815 The luxury to apprehend.


WEEK EIGHT: GOTHIC THEMES AND IMAGES

Annotated Bib:Two article summaries this week. Recommended: James R. Guthrie, "Measuring the Sun," ED's Vision (Library Reserve); David Reynolds, "ED and Popular Culture," Cambridge Companion to ED, 167-89. (On reserve in instructor's office).


  • Mar. 6
    Stories: Edgar Allen Poe, House of Usher (online) and Harriet Prescott Spofford, Circumstance (online).

    Mar. 8
    Story: Louisa May Alcott, Whisper in the Dark (online)

    Mar. 10
    Oral/Written Report #3: article (15 min.). Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Madwoman in the Attic, 613-33. (Library Reserve).
    Poems: J 280 I felt a funeral; J 414 Twas like a Maelstrom; J 512 Soul has bandaged; J 670 One need not be a Chamber; J 410 The First Day's Night; J 937 I felt a Cleaving; J 858 This Chasm; J 1167 Alone and in Circumstance.
    ANNOTATED BIB. DUE: 6 annotations (minimum)


WEEK NINE: GOTHIC THEMES AND IMAGES

Annotated Bib: Two article summaries this week. Recommended: Barton St. Armand, "American Grotesque" in ED and her Cuture; James McIntosh, Nimble Believing: D and the Unknown (Library Reserve).


  • Mar. 13
    Criticism: Daneen Wardrop, "ED and the Gothic in Fascicle 16," Cambrige Companion to ED, 142-62 (on reserve in instructor's office).
    Fascicle 16 (J327 Before I got my eye; J 607 Of nearness; J 279 Tie the Strings; J 241 I like a look; J 280 I felt a Funeral; J 281 "Tis so appalling; J 282 How noteless; J 242 When We stand; 445 "Twas Just this time; J 608 Afraid! Of whom; J 446 He showed me Heights.

    Mar. 15
    Poems: J 532 I tried to think; J 510 It was not Death; J 287 A Clock Stopped; J 264 A weight like needles; J 1570 In Winter in my Room; J 315 He fumbles at your Soul; J 577 If I may have it; J 670 One Need not be a Chamber; J 609 I years had bee; J 341 After great pain; J 430 It never would be; J 274 The only Ghost; J 1056 I've dropped my brain; J 997 Crumbling is not.

    Mar. 17 RELIGION
    Oral/Written Report #4: article (15 min.). Jane Eberwein, "ED and the Calvinist Sacramental Tradition in ED," ED: A Collection of Critical Essays, 89-104 (Library Reserve).
    Poems: J J 342 It will be Summer; J 322 There came a day; J 528 Mine--by the Right; J 508 I'm ceded; J 473 I am ashamed; J 579 I had been hungry; J 313 I should have been too glad; J 1451 Your thoughts don't have words; J 130 These are the days; J 1068 Further in Summer; J 1712 The Bible is an antique; J1461 Heavenly Father; J 49 I never lost as much; J 501 This world is not conclusion; J 379 I saw no way; J 413 I never felt at Home; J 959 A loss of something; J 597 It always felt a wrong; J 348 I dreaded that first Robin.


WEEK TEN

  • Mar. 20-24 SPRING BREAK


WEEK ELEVEN: NATURE AND SOUL

Annotated Bib: Two article summaries this week. Recommended: Paula Bennett, "Vinnie's Garden," ED, Woman Poet ; Wendy Barker, "Dwelling in Possibility," Lunacy of Light: ED and the Experience of Metaphor ; Barton St. Armand, ED and her Culture (Library Reserve).




WEEK TWELVE: NATURE AND SOUL

Annotated Bib: Two article summaries this week. Recommended: Select several articles directly related to your topic for your seminar paper. (Library Reserve).




WEEK THIRTEEN: ED AS MODERNIST POET?

Annotated Bib: Two article summaries this week. Recommended: Select several articles directly related to your topic for your seminar paper. (Library Reserve).


  • Apr. 10
    Criticism: Joseph Raab, "The Metapoetic Element in Dickinson," EDH, 273-93. (Library Reserve)
    Poems: J 668 Nature is what; J 965 A Word is inundation; J 1212 A Word is dead; J 1409 Could mortal lip; J 1261 A Word Dropped careless; J 1126 The Poet searched; J 1620 Circumference thou Bride; J 1129 Success in Circuit; J 1129 Tell all the Truth; J 451 The Outer--from the Inner; J 449 I died for Beauty; J 1247 To pile like Thunder; J 147 To see the Summer Sky; J 146 A Route of Evanescence; J 1651 A Word made Flesh; J 883 The Poets light; J 613 They shut me up; J 657 I dwell in possibility; J 435 Much Madness; J 448 This was a poet; J 569 I reckon--when I count.

    Apr. 12
    Criticism: Fred D. White, "ED's Existential Dramas," Cambridge Companion to ED, 91-104. (on reserve in instructor's office).
    Poems: J 686 They say that "Time"; J 77 I never hear the word "Escape"; J 378 I saw no way; J 79 Going to Heaven; J 465 I heard a Fly buzz; J 875 Plant to Plank; J 338 I know that he exists; J 376 Of course I prayed; J 742 Four Trees; J 360 Death sets a Thing.

    Apr. 14
    Criticism: David Porter, "ED and American Modernism," The Modern Idiom, 219-44. (Library Reserve).
    Poems: J 449 I died for Beauty; J 556 The Brain, within its groove; J 587 Erase the Root; J 412 I read my sentence; J 280 I felt a funeral; J 264 A Weight like Needles; J 286 A Face of Steel; J 666 Ah, Teneriffe; J 1194 Dated with the Dead; J 870 Finding is the first Act; J 983 Ideals are Fairy Oil; J 629 The Moon was but a Chin.
    ANNOTATED BIB. DUE: 8 annotations (minimum)


WEEK FOURTEEN: SEMINAR PAPER

Reminder: Bring 1-2 pp Proposal (Thesis/Outline) to your conference, complete your research during this week, and begin your rough draft.


  • Apr. 17
    Discuss Proposals/Seminar Topics; Review MLA Style.

    Apr. 26
    Conference 1: ___________
    Conference 2: ___________
    Conference 3: ___________

    Apr. 28
    Conference 4: ___________
    Conference 5: ___________
    Conference 6: ___________


WEEK FIFTEEN: SEMINAR PAPER

Work on your rough draft during this week. Remember to bring a 7-10 pp. draft to your conference.


  • Apr. 24
    Conference 1: ___________
    Conference 2: ___________

    Apr. 19
    Conference 3: ___________
    Conference 4: ___________

    Apr. 21
    Conference 5: ___________
    Conference 6: ___________


WEEK SIXTEEN: SEMINAR PAPER

Work on your rough draft during this week. Remember to bring a 15-20 pp. draft to your conference.


  • May 1
    Conference 1: ___________
    Conference 2: ___________

    May 3
    Conference 3: ___________
    Conference 4: ___________

    May 5
    Conference 5: ___________
    Conference 6: ___________


WEEK SEVENTEEN: SEMINAR PAPER

Final Seminar Paper due on the day of your oral presentation.


  • May 8
    Review Bibliographies and MLA Style.

    May 10
    Oral Presentation 1: ___________
    Oral Presentation 2: ___________
    Oral Presentation 3: ___________

    May 12
    Oral Presentation 4: ___________
    Oral Presentation 5: ___________
    Oral Presentation 6: ___________





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