172 Quiz Answer

Here’s the answer to this week’s quiz.
 

In 1862 there was a 31-year-old woman who lived in Amherst, Massachusetts and who wrote poetry. 

Emily Dickinson wrote a great many poems, very few of which were published in her lifetime and none of which were published as she wrote them.

The reason?  Her poetry was too, well, different – strange and at times almost chaotic. 

Truth is, she knew the rules of poetry, she just didn’t care all that much about them.  She wanted to write in her own raw, idiosyncratic way and she wasn’t going to change.

It’s ironic that, after her death, many of her works – she left almost 2,000 poems – were published, and she would undoubtedly have been upset to see that they had all been “corrected” by editors, the syntax rearranged and everything rewritten in the conventional poetic style and approved grammar of that era.

It wasn’t till 1955 that Thomas Johnson published Dickinson's poems for the first time in their original formats, thus displaying the creative genius and peculiarity of her poetry.

(Also for Three Word Wednesday and ABC Wednesday: "V" is for "Value")
Here’s this week’s Berownial quiz.

I wrote the following letter.  In it I play the part of a stuffy, overly pedantic English teacher, Mr. Carlyle, writing to a woman who had asked to have her poems evaluated.  The letter is fiction, but there was such a poetess, who lived in Amherst, Massachusetts, and who had a strange and unique poetic style.

Your assignment, assuming you choose to accept it, is: who was she?

Dear Miss ---------------:

You have sent me a number of your “poems,” adding that you would appreciate my criticism.

Well, I believe that deep inside you, hidden under a quantity of grammatical errors and inept usages, the heart of a poet lies beating.

However, my criticism is simple.  You show you have the makings of a genuine poet but you should take a course in elementary grammar-school English.

The English language is your tool, it is what you have to work with, and your knowledge of this tool is, well, pathetic.  Poetry filled with grammatical errors simply has no VALUE.

Here’s a poem you sent me.

I fear a Man of frugal Speech —
I fear a Silent Man —
Haranguer — I can overtake —
Or Babbler — entertain —

Why on earth all the dashes?  Then there are those capital letters, often used, as far as I can see, for no good reason.  And whatever happened to the period as a way to end a sentence? 

I must admit that you sent one poem that I thought could be perfectly acceptable, if we fix all the errors.

I taste a liquor never brewed --
From Tankards scooped in Pearl --
Not all the Vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an Alcohol!

Inebriate of Air -- am I --
And Debauchee of Dew --
Reeling -- thro endless summer days --
From inns of Molten Blue –-

Again, the capitals; again, the usual evil, the dashes.  And I have to admit that I chuckled at the thought that “pearl” rhymes with “alcohol.” 

Remember, there are rules that must be followed when writing poetry.  You mentioned that you have drawers-full of poems you have written.  I assume that instead of being smooth they too are in your usual raw, serrated style.

Unless you make the necessary corrections and avoid the grammatical errors a ten-year-old wouldn’t make, and unless your attempts follow the basic rules of poetry, all your efforts will have been in vain.

Sorry to have to rain on your parade.  I hope my suggestions and criticism will be of help.

(Also submitted to Sunday Scribblings.)