[New-Poetry] Fwd: White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Tue Aug 12 09:24:34 EDT 2008

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From: Knopf Poetry <knopfpoetry at info.randomhouse.com>
To: JforJames at aol.com
Sent: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 8:45 am
Subject: White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson

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Brenda Wineapple's White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson is the first book to portray one of the most remarkable friendships in American letters, that of Emily Dickinson—recluse, poet—and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, minister, literary figure, active abolitionist. 
Higginson, a former pastor at the Free Church of Worcester, Massachusetts, wrote often for the cultural magazine of the day, The Atlantic Monthly—on gymnastics, women's rights, and slavery. His article "Letter to a Young Contributor" gave advice to readers who wanted to write for the magazine and offered tips on how to submit one's work ("use black ink, good pens, white paper"). 

Among the letters Higginson received in response was one scrawled in looping, difficult handwriting. Four poems were enclosed in a smaller envelope. He deciphered the scribble: "Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive?" Thus began a correspondence that would last a lifetime... 

Brenda Wineapple re-creates the extraordinary, delicate friendship that led to the publication of Dickinson's poetry. And though she and Higgins
on met face-to-face only twice (he had never met anyone "who drained my nerve power so much," he said), their friendship reveals much about Dickinson, throwing light onto both the darkened door of the poet's imagination and a corner of the noisy century that she and Colonel Higginson shared. 

Herewith Emily Dickinson's poem 'Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat', the inspiration for the title of this shimmering, revelatory work. 

Dare you see a Soul at the 'White Heat'? 
Dare you see a Soul at the 'White Heat'?
Then crouch within the door—
Red — is the Fire's common tint—
But when the vivid Ore
Has vanquished Flame's conditions—
It quivers from the Forge
Without a color, but the Light
of unannointed Blaze—

Least Village, boasts it's Blacksmith—
Whose Anvil's even ring
Stands symbol for the finer Forge
That soundless tugs — within —

Refining these impatient Ores
With Hammer, and with Blaze
Until the designated Light
Repudiate the Forge—

KEEP CLICKING:

 About WHITE HEAT: THE FRIENDSHIP OF EMILY DICKINSON AND THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON 

About Brenda Wineapple 

More from Emily Dickinson Download a free broadside of "The Hotel Room Mirror"

Meet W. S. DiPiero
--

White Heat copyright 2008 by Brenda Wineapple. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. A
ll rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

We welcome your feedback. Please send any thoughts or questions to knopfwebmaster at randomhouse.com 

You received this issue because your email address is in Knopf's Poem-a-Day mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to unsub_knopfpoetry at info.randomhouse.com. Or if you received this poem as a forward and wish to subscribe, send a blank email to sub_knopfpoetry at info.randomhouse.com.

Brenda Wineapple's White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson is the first book to portray one of the most remarkable friendships in American letters, that of Emily Dickinson—recluse, poet—and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, minister, literary figure, active abolitionist. 
Higginson, a former pastor at the Free Church of Worcester, Massachusetts, wrote often for the cultural magazine of the day, The Atlantic Monthly—on gymnastics, women's rights, and slavery. His article "Letter to a Young Contributor" gave advice to readers who wanted to write for the magazine and offered tips on how to submit one's work ("use black ink, good pens, white paper"). 

Among the letters Higginson received in response was one scrawled in looping, difficult handwriting. Four poems were enclosed in a smaller envelope. He deciphered the scribble: "Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive?" Thus began a correspondence that20would last a lifetime... 

Brenda Wineapple re-creates the extraordinary, delicate friendship that led to the publication of Dickinson's poetry. And though she and Higginson met face-to-face only twice (he had never met anyone "who drained my nerve power so much," he said), their friendship reveals much about Dickinson, throwing light onto both the darkened door of the poet's imagination and a corner of the noisy century that she and Colonel Higginson shared. 

Herewith Emily Dickinson's poem 'Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat', the inspiration for the title of this shimmering, revelatory work. 

Dare you see a Soul at the 'White Heat'? 
Dare you see a Soul at the 'White Heat'?
Then crouch within the door—
Red — is the Fire's common tint—
But when the vivid Ore
Has vanquished Flame's conditions—
It quivers from the Forge
Without a color, but the Light
of unannointed Blaze—

Least Village, boasts it's Blacksmith—
Whose Anvil's even ring
Stands symbol for the finer Forge
That soundless tugs — within —

Refining these impatient Ores
With Hammer, and with Blaze
Until the designated Light
Repudiate the Forge—

KEEP CLICKING:

 About WHITE HEAT: THE FRIENDSHIP OF EMILY DICKINSON AND THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON 

About Brenda Wineapple 

More from Emily Dickinson Download a free broadside of "The Hotel Room Mirror"

Meet W. S. DiPiero
--

   =2
0

White Heat copyright 2008 by Brenda Wineapple. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

We welcome your feedback. Please send any thoughts or questions to knopfwebmaster at randomhouse.com 

You received this issue because your email address is in Knopf's Poem-a-Day mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to unsub_knopfpoetry at info.randomhouse.com. Or if you received this poem as a forward and wish to subscribe, send a blank email to sub_knopfpoetry at info.randomhouse.com.

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