Comments on: Five years of Dickinson

By: Pat Thomas

Pat Thomas — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 04:46:53 +0000

Maybe you didn’t hear Henry Mollicone’s setting of this poem for soprano, cello, violin and piano. It might have increased your appreciation of it — somehow poems set to music take on a whole new dimension. It was performed at the Gloria! concert in December, 2007. Maybe there’s a cd still floating around. There were settings of three other Dickinson poems as well, and they were superb. Wow! If I’ve heard that, I had forgotten. Henry does such beautiful settings of her poems (and others’), and it’s true, hearing a poem set to music gives you a whole new angle on it. I must check that out. Thanks! –AZM

By: David Zucker

David Zucker — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 16:24:41 +0000

i am impressed by two matters: that ED wrote such a long poem. thanks be to her that she then went the path of concise brevity; second that my daughter Amy has not abandoned her previous love of poetry. I also have a pledge — to read at least one Shakespeare sonnet a day, which I haven’t fulfilled entirely.

Aw, that’s a cinch! You’ll be done before Christmas!

I’m also glad most of ED’s poems are shorter than this. Long poems can be great, but there’s a reason I’m not reading one-per-day Shelley. As for my love of poetry, we know where that comes from. Thanks, Dad! –AZM

By: Roger

Roger — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 14:39:31 +0000

Your Emily D. project sounds marvelous. Perhaps I should do the same with my big book of e. e. cummings’ poems.

BTW, I also find it maddening to listen to announcements from people who persistently place the emphasis on unimportant words. It’s a sign that no actual consciousness is involved with the speech-production process. And often the emphasis is on prepositions and other small words of minor meaning:

We DO ask you TO keep your seat belt on while the aircraft is IN motion.

Chris Schriner

LOL! It’s so true. And there’s a cautionary tale there, because clergy do it too. Not emphasize prepositions, perhaps, but fall into a habit where “no actual consciousness is involved with the speech-production process.” It’s deadly. I can still recite certain lines of the Psalms exactly the way they were said by a certain clergyperson I heard often in my childhood. One might have thought he was not a native speaker and had learned that inflection off a tape.

If you made a practice of reading e. e. cummings, I’d be eager to read your reflections. –AZM

By: Beth Nord

Beth Nord — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 05:39:00 +0000

Looking forward to hearing (and reading) more. I’ve always wanted to read ED’s poems; this is a great opportunity.
Beth Nord They are wild. How she got the reputation for demure little thoughts about flowers and birds, I have no idea. I’m glad you’ll be along for the ride! –AZM