Hi,

I study French literature and we have this class about the "cursed poets", starting off with Verlaine's book about these poets, and extending the study to a number of other poets who could be called "cursed" as well in one way or another. We namely talked a lot about Rimbaud, but also about the likes of Dylan Thomas or the Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva.
I had this intuition to chose Emily Dickinson as a possible "cursed poet" for my essay (we have to write about an aspect or poet that hasn't been discussed in class yet) - and my teacher told me it was a good choice and to go with that.
Now Emily Dickinson is a poet who has been seen in a wrong light by superficial critics and popular selections of her work, that portray her as an optimistic, "light" kind of poet.
I felt there was more to her than that, a darker, morbid, marginal side, that fits the topic well. but I have issues with where to start right now, and finding proof for my point. I also have trouble finding out - despite all the examples we have seen in class - what really makes out a "cursed poet", what they all have in common.
Any ideas will be appreciated.
thanks.

Well, I have to admit the term 'cursed poet' (poéte maudit = accursed?) was unfamiliar to me. Searching the net shows the definition to be, "rebel against society and against middle-class morality". Apparently Verlaine included Mallarmé, Rimbaud, Corbière, Desbordes-Valmore, Villiers de l'isle-Adam,and Pauvre Lelian in that number.

I have also not read the book, so I can only speculate but such a fault has never stopped in in the past. Thinking of rebels against society, I would not personally include Emily Dickinson. Names that do come to mind are Bukowski, Ferlinghetti, Ginsburg and perhaps Ezra Pound.

thanks, I appreciate every little idea or thought on the subject. I found the translation "cursed" or "damned", don't know...thanks anyway.

Didja try Google yet?

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thanks a lot!

I agree with yout opinion of Emily Dickinson in that her work is often perceived as light, when she actually touches some serious matters. Whether or not that counts as "cursed" I don't know, but she would certainly be an interesting one to study.

My question to you would be how much do you have to look into it. Yes she uses light imagery, but in contrast to that would of course be her dark imagery.

Because i could not stop for death
he kindly stopped for me . . .

This is only one example.

W/just a little bit of research you can easily find out about the morbid/macarbe/mundane and of course agoraphobic side of E.D. & lastly you must look into her life for all of the above. Anyone who spends the last 7-8 years of their life in there home, yet living vicariously through there correspondence has a lot to "say."

Good luck

thank you....I have to write approximately 10-15 pages on the subject. the difficult part, at the moment, is to find all the poems that fit the subject - or a good selection of them- without having to read every single poem she has written.

Actually all of her poems are incredibly short. I don't think it would be too difficult to read most of them.

I know they're short, but I have a selection of her poems that has around 300 pages, which wouldn't be much if it was a novel, but as the poems aren't so easy to understand at a first reading, sometimes, it makes it rather tough to get through all of them quickly-as I have lots of other stuff to read as well. Especially as I'm not a native English speaker, there will always be words I have to look up in the dictionnary to fully understand a poem.
Anyway, I'm thinking about selecting just a few appropriate ones and analyse them in detail.
Any ideas? (maybe some of you know her poetry really well)
thanks

Those about death provide a wide range of selections.

[www.english.uiuc.edu]

Oh agree about "death". The subject of death offers many possibilites. I also would recommend that you choose the ones that stand out to you and you seem to grasp immediately.

(This one was on the Writer's Almanac today)
Poem: "Publication-is the Auction Of the Mind of Man" by Emily Dickinson.

Publication-is the Auction of the Mind of Man

Publication-is the Auction
Of the Mind of Man-
Poverty-be justifying
For so foul a thing

Possibly-but We-would rather
From Our Garret go
White-Unto the White Creator-
Than invest-Our Snow-

Thought belong to Him who gave it-
Then-to Him Who bear
Its Corporeal illustration-Sell
The Royal Air-

In the Parcel-Be the Merchant
Of the Heavenly Grace-
But reduce no Human Spirit
To Disgrace of Price-

(this one I had to memorize for my poetry class last semester)
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading - treading - till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through -

And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum -
Kept beating - beating - till I thought
My mind was going numb -

And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space - began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here -

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down -
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing - then -

thank you

Publication-is the Auction
Of the Mind of Man-
Poverty-be justifying
For so foul a thing


So ... that's her justification for hiding her light? Interesting. Smacks of sour grapes, though.

At a stretch, even Whitman and Wilde.

I don't think so...well, I don't know nearly enough about her to be able to discuss the matter, but I think the reasons she gives don't have much to do with sour grapes. I think she really meant it that way.

my question doesn't really go for the curse poets but it goes for emily dickinson and my question was for some one to please explain to me one of her poems in depth. to be more specific the poems i am trying to understand is "There is another Sky!" it is for a high school graduation assignment and i am just really not feeling the poem. its confusing me. Please Help! Thanx

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

Well, Austin was her brother and lived next door with his wife Susan. It sounds as if Emily was talking about (the Christian) heaven again, but this site suggests it was taken from letter Emily wrote to Austin about the way the sky will look when her brother comes home again:

[www.colorado.edu] />
Since it lacks with frequent capital words and constant emdashes of her usual poetry, I suspect the letter-extract idea is correct.

At first reading I thought of heaven, but the line: "though it be darkness there" implies otherwise. So, this garden of her's is perhaps her world, her perspective, etc.