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Emily Dickinson at Large Professor Max Cavitch Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30-2:50 Office Hours: Th 10-1 FBH 323 FBH 341 [email protected]

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Emily Dickinson at Large Professor Max Cavitch Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30-2:50 Office Hours: Th 10-1 FBH 323 FBH 341 Cavitch@English.Upenn.Edu English 016.303 Fall 2013 Emily Dickinson at Large Professor Max Cavitch Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30-2:50 Office hours: Th 10-1 FBH 323 FBH 341 [email protected] Required texts: Franklin, ed., The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition (Harvard 0674018249) Johnson, ed., Emily Dickinson: Selected Letters (Harvard 0674250702) Habbegger, My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson (Modern Library 0812966015) Reserved texts (available for use at VPL, Rosengarten Reserve): R. W. Franklin, ed., The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson, 2 vols. (1981) ---, The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Variorum Edition, 3 vols. (1998)—not yet on reserve Thomas H. Johnson, ed., The Letters of Emily Dickinson, 3 vols. (1958) ---, The Poems of Emily Dickinson, 3 vols. (1955) Jay Leyda, The Years and Hours of Emily Dickinson, 2 vols. (1960) Richard Sewall, The Life of Emily Dickinson (1974) Graded work Attendance, participation, and short assignments: ~30% of semester grade Two short essays: ~20% of grade One in-class presentation: ~20% of grade One long essay: ~30% of grade Course policies Attendance is mandatory. Complete each assignment carefully before coming to class, and be prepared to talk about it. All members of the seminar will be expected to participate actively and thoughtfully in seminar discussion at each class meeting. Poem of the Day For each class meeting, be especially diligent in preparing one poem of your choice from that day’s assigned reading. Everyone will from time to time be called upon to 1) read it aloud and 2) lead a discussion of it. Essays During the first half of the semester, you will write two short (1000 words) essays on topics I will assign. Topic assignments will be posted to the course’s Canvas site one week before the due-date. These short essays are meant to 1) give me a sense of your critical writing and 2) to give you early feedback on your writing in anticipation of the long (5000-7000 words) essay due later on. The long essay is meant to be an extended piece of thorough scholarship and original criticism. Essay due-dates are indicated on the schedule of classes below. Late essays will be accepted only at my discretion and (if accepted) will be marked down one-third of a letter grade for each day beyond the deadline. Prepare your essays according to the following specifications. If these specifications are not met, your essay will be returned to you for immediate correction and will be marked down at least a third of a letter grade for being late: • 12 pt. font, double-spaced • 1” margins on all four sides • give it a good title • mark all pages with your name and the page number • quote accurately and provide full bibliographic citations (use either Chicago or MLA style) In-class presentation 15-20 minutes, on a topic developed by you in consultation with me. Ideally, the presentation will be related to your long essay, but this is not mandatory. Presentations will begin after Spring Break. Talk to me about possible topics and your preferred presentation date as soon as possible. Academic integrity It is your responsibility to be familiar with the University’s Code of Academic Integrity. Instances of academic dishonesty will be referred to the College Office for adjudication. Schedule of classes Th 8/29 Introductory "In Ebon Box, when years have flown" (F180); Letter #58; "There is another sky" (J2); "There is another sky" (FA13-2); photo of enclosure to Letter #58 T 9/3 Letters “I've nothing else - to bring, You know” (F253); “Going to Him! Happy letter!” (F277); “All the letters I can write” (F380); “She dealt her pretty words like Blades” (F458); “This is my letter to the World” (F519); “The Way I read a Letter's – this” (F700); “Essential Oils - are wrung” (F772); “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” (F1263); “A Word dropped careless on a Page” (F1268); “Belshazzar had a Letter” (F1487); “A Letter is a joy of Earth” (F1672) Letters, pp. 1-42 (1842-1850) Th 9/5 What Was a Poet? “Heart not so heavy as mine” (F88); “Besides the Autumn poets sing” (F123); “I would not paint – a picture” (F348); “This was a Poet” (F446); “I dwell in Possibility” (F466); “I was the slightest in the House” (F473); “From Blank to Blank” (F484); “The Robin is the One” (F501); “The Birds begun at Four o’clock” (F504); “I reckon – When I count at all” (F533); “The Martyr Poets - did not tell” (F665); “Split the Lark – and you’ll find the Music” (F905); “The Poets light but Lamps” (F930); “Shall I take thee, the Poet said” (F1243); “There is no Frigate like a Book” (F1286); “To pile like Thunder to it’s close” (F1353); “To see the Summer Sky” (F1491); “If I could tell how glad I was” (F1725) Habbeger, pp. 1-120 (1636-1840) M 9/9 Essay #1 due by 5 pm T 9/10 Soul, self, and the problem of others “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” (F260); “You see I cannot see – your lifetime” (F313); “I like a look of Agony” (F339); “The Soul has Bandaged moments” (F360); “I cried at Pity – not at Pain” (F394); “One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted” (F407); “The Soul selects her own Society” (F409); “He fumbles at your Soul” (F477); “The Soul unto itself” (F579); “The Soul that hath a Guest” (F592); “No Rack can torture me” (F649); “I cannot live with You” (F706); “Me from Myself – to banish” (F709); “On a Columnar Self” (F740); “I felt a Cleaving in my Mind” (F867); “The Soul should always stand ajar” (F1017); “Along and in a Circumstance” (F1174); “I did not reach Thee” (F1708) Letters, pp. 43-127 (1851-1854) Th 9/12 Bliss, rage, the body, and the sublime “I have never seen ‘Volcanoes’” (F165); “’Tis so much joy! ’Tis so much joy!” (F170); “A wounded Deer – leaps highest” (F181); “I taste a liquor never brewed” (F207); “Is Bliss then, such Abyss” (F371); “I cannot dance opon my Toes” (F381); “Dare you see a Soul at the ‘White Heat’?” (F401); “’Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch” (F425); “We grow accustomed to the Dark” (F428); “It would have starved a Gnat” (F444); “They shut me up in Prose” (F445); “Nature – sometimes sears a Sapling” (F457); “I live on Dread” (F498); “A Pit – but Heaven over it” (F508); “There is a pain – so utter” (F515); “A still – Volcano – Life” (F517); “I started Early – Took my Dog” (F656); “Pain – has an Element of Blank” (F760); “My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun” (F764); “I think To Live – may be a Bliss” (F757); “A nearness to Tremendousness” (F824); “A narrow Fellow in the Grass” (F1096); “When Etna basks and purrs” (F1161); “One Joy of so much anguish” (F1450); “The farthest Thunder that I heard” (F1665); “On my volcano grows the Grass” (F1743); “The reticent volcano keeps” (F1776) Habegger, pp. 121-278 (1840-1852) T 9/17 Wife July 1856: Austin marries Susan Gilbert “A Wife – at Daybreak – I shall be” (F185); “Title divine, is mine” (F194); “I’m ‘wife’ – I’ve finished that” (F225); “Rearrange a ‘Wife’s’ Affection!” (F267); “I got so I could take his name” (F292); “A solemn thing – it was – I said” (F307); “He put the Belt around my life” (F330); “I am ashamed – I hide” (F705); “She rose to His Requirement – dropt” (F857); “To own a Susan of my own” (F1436) Letters, pp. 129-63 (1855-1861) Th 9/19 Master “The Moon is distant from the Sea” (F387); “The face I carry with me – last” (F395); “I am alive – I guess” (605); “Why make it doubt – it hurts it so” (F697); “I live with Him – I see His face” (F698); “The power to be true to You” (F699) Letters #187, 233, and 248 Habegger, pp. 279-441 (1852-1862) T 9/24 War “A Slash of Blue! A sweep of Gray!” (F233); “What if I say I shall not wait!” (F305); “The name - of it - is ‘Autumn’” (F465); “Whole Gulfs - of Red, and Fleets - of Red” (F468); “He fought like those Who've nought to lose” (F480); “When I was small, a Woman died” (F518); “It feels a shame to be Alive” (F524); “One Anguish - in a Crowd” (F527); “They dropped like Flakes” (F545); “The Battle fought between the Soul” (F629); “To know just how He suffered - would be dear” (F688); “My Portion is Defeat – today” (F704); “Robbed by Death - but that was easy” (F838); “Dying! To be afraid of thee” (F946); “A Sickness of this World it most occasions” (F993); “He scanned it – Staggered” (F994) Letters, pp. 165-88 (1862-1865) Julia Ward Howe, “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (1862) Herman Melville, “Shiloh” (1866) Walt Whitman, “Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night” (1865) Th 9/26 Advice, retrenchment, and retrospection “It would never be Common – more – I said” (F388); “The Province of the Saved” (F659) Fascicle 16 (F336-46) (see http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~ajf2j/emily/stab.html) Thomas Wentworth Higginson, “Ought Women to Learn the Alphabet?” (1859); “A Letter to a Young Contributor” (1862) Habegger, pp. 442-93 (1862-1865) T 10/1 Poetesses “All overgrown by cunning moss” (F146); “Her – last Poems” (F600); “I think I was enchanted” (F627); “Publication - is the Auction” (F788); Emily Brönte “Death” (1846) “Remembrance” (1846) Elizabeth Barrett Browning from Aurora Leigh (1856) “Felicia Hemans” (1835 1850) “L. E. L.’s Last Question” (1839 1844) “Mother and Poet” (1861) Felicia Hemans “Properzia Rossi” (1828 1839) “The Image in Lava” (1827 1839) Helen Hunt Jackson “The Story of Boon” (1874) Emma Lazarus “In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport” (1871) “The Crowing of the Red Cock” (1882) L.
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