tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post5920698413586114595..comments2024-03-28T14:04:54.557-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: “Mama” never forgets her birdsSusan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-34695093995110766452022-10-02T16:49:42.371-07:002022-10-02T16:49:42.371-07:00Dickinson’s custom of sending original verse in sy...Dickinson’s custom of sending original verse in sympathy notes to mourning relatives began in a letter to Louisa Norcross [age 18 and her sister Frances L. Norcross, age 13,] after the death of her [their] mother, [ED’s favorite aunt,] Lavinia Norcross, in 1860. According to R. W. Franklin, some of the poems included in sympathy notes are: <br /><br />1. ““Mama” never forgets her birds” (Fr130); occasioned by the death of Lavinia Norcross,<br />2. “There came a Day—at Summer’s full” (Fr325); occasioned by the death of Elizabeth Dwight), <br />3. “Further in Summer than the Birds” (Fr895); occasioned by the accidental shooting of Gertrude Vanderbilt,<br />4. “She sped as Petals from a Rose” (Fr897); occasioned by the death of Susan Dickinson’s niece (?), <br />5. “Unable are the Loved to die” (Fr951); occasioned by the death of Susan Dickinson’s sister, Harriet Cutler, <br />6. “Were it to be the last” (Fr1165); occasioned by the death of Henry Sweetser, <br />7. “Death’s Waylaying not the sharpest” (Fr1315); occasioned by the disappearance of Joseph A. Sweetser, <br />8. “How know it from a Summer’s Day” (Fr1412); occasioned by Mary Channing Higginson’s terminal illness, <br />9. “How brittle are the Piers” (Fr1459”; occasioned by the death of Mary Channing Higginson, <br />10. “Than Heaven more remote” (Fr1460); occasioned by the death of Samuel Bowles, <br />11. “The Face in Evanescence lain” (Fr1521); occasioned by the death of Thomas Higginson’s infant, Louisa,<br />12. “How much of Source escapes with thee” (Fr1567); occasioned by the death of Josiah Gilbert Holland, and<br />13. “The Heart has many Doors,” “Pass to thy Rendezvous of Light,” “Expanse cannot be lost,” and “Climbing to reach the costly Hearts” (Fr1623, Fr1624, Fr1625, and Fr1626); all occasioned by the death of Dickinson’s nephew, Gilbert.<br /><br />(Ann Beebe. 2006. Dickinson's Immortal is an Ample Word. The Explicator 65:1, 36-39)<br />Larry Bnoreply@blogger.com