English 53: Dickinson readings

For the first full class (Wed.), read poems # 258, 290, 419, 520, and 1461 several times each (the #s refer to the numbers in the Johnson Complete Poems). For later assignments, see the listings below and the English 53 syllabus.

Try to browse through the entire Complete Poems in the next two weeks, making your way halfway through by the end of the first week.

I recommend reading only for half-hour stretches at a time, though, and doing this several times a day. Many poems may not grab your interest at first glance; it is OK to browse through these while spending more time with poems that do hold your attention.

Spend a good deal of time to reading and re-reading about a dozen or two dozen poems each week-poems that you plunge into deeply and go back to to think about again.

**I also recommend trying to memorize at least one poem a week, so you can turn it over in your memory and be surprised at what you discover.**

Groupings of poems by selected introductory "subjects" in Dickinson are given below as an introductory guide-you may want to read these poems together as you introduce yourself to Dickinson. The groupings below are meant to be provisional, however; these are hardly the only "topics" that will seem relevant to you for these and other poems.

Don't have the groupings below be your primary reading guide. Spend a good deal of time just reading poems consecutively, making notes for yourself on which poems remind you of earlier ones you've read.

Numbers refer to numbered poems in the Johnson Complete Poems.

Nature 130, 214, 291, 328, 742, 1400

Religion 124, 237, 249, 301, 356, 413, 430, 470, 501, 1461, 1551, 1601, 1712

Art 271, 290, 320, 326, 334, 365, 406, 448, 657, 675, 709, 822, 883, 1129

Love 296 (1860 crisis and parting?)

1, 341, 394, 433, 449, 456, 520, 640, 754, 1670, 1732

'Master' poems 336, 429, 461-64, 470

'White' 388, 461, 473

Death 281, 258, 465

Miscell. 67, 199, 303, 401, 419, 435, 443, 585, 861, 1243, 1695, 1755

race? 452

'Victorian' Dickinson: 173, 251, 441

selections from "Fascicle 37":

opening poems to Fascicle 37: 679 and 740

poems on the recto and verso (front and back) of a single page:

740 + 705

745 + 744

749 + 709

poems on the same page:

741 + 706

742 + 707 (707 was also sent to a friend to accompany a gift)

708 + 747

closing poems to Fascicle 37: 751, 752, 753