Emily Dickinson's Correspondences
Correspondence with Susan Dickinson

H B193

JP 986, JL 378

FP 1096

OMC 147

1870 or later (probably 1872)

ink

watermark/embossment: Y, A Pirie & Sons 1870, embossed

20 x 13 cm.


FF 231-232. Copy of poem Sue already knew. Most likely, her copy had been passed along for printing as "The Snake" in the Springfield Daily Republican on February 14, 1866. The Norcross cousins were expected for a visit and, as Johnson infers, Sue had apparently sent over a note saying that she would like to make an evening call. This is among the writings that strongly suggest that Sue and Emily's not seeing one another for long periods of time is a biographical construction based on unreliable gossip received as fact (e.g., stories told by Mary Lee Hall and recirculated by Richard Sewall in The Life of Emily Dickinson; Hall helped perpetuate tales of Dickinson's unrequited and/or unrealized love for a male suitor, felt particular animosity for Susan and her daughter Martha, and strongly allied herself with Todd and Bingham; see esp. pp. 59-61, 191-203, 230-233).

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Image reproduced by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Not to be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.
Transcription and commentary copyright 1996 by Martha Nell Smith, all rights reserved
Last updated on May 7, 2001
Maintained by Tanya Clement <tclement@umd.edu>