Sunday, September 26, 2010

Emily and Tom

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all.
~Emily Dickinson

While some people may consider me obscure and random (just a touch), I know exactly how I got to where I am. This poem is a favorite of mine. I recently saw it in a piece of artwork I would like to recreate and started looking up some background to Miss Dickinson's writing. In the process, I discovered that Thomas Wentworth Higginson contributed as one of Emily's literary mentors. Thomas Wentworth Higginson also served as the colonel of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers (the first Federally-authorized African American regiment) and wrote the work "Army Life in a Black Regiment." If you are familiar with my research, then you would understand why seeing a relationship between Emily and Thomas struck a chord with me. I will continue to investigate this puzzle piece of history I have discovered. In the meantime, I have to make a trip to the Lobby of Hobbies so I can get the materials needed to paint the poem.

A thought: Dickinson suggests that hope never fails or maybe that hope will always exist. I appreciate that.

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