Spotlight on another gift today, one that my mother gave me a few months ago, a gift that was unconnected to any celebration. How wonderful is that! To my list of what kind of gifts are best, add the following: a gift given for no reason other than the giver thought the recipient would really like it. I saw this and thought of you. Or in the case of this gift, pictured above, I saw on your blog that you didn’t understand Emily Dickinson and the next day I happened to read a review of this book and I thought it might be helpful. My mother’s gift is all the more unexpected and sweet because she is not one for impulse or indulgent purchases. Frugality is the instinct of her generation but also of her particular circumstance. In raising eleven children with a constant worry that the family was headed to the poorhouse, she learned to do without. Which is an understatement for someone who served powdered milk, sewed her own clothes, and wrapped presents in newspaper comics.
Thank you, Mom! The book is a wonder. It’s the perfect bathroom book and I say this not because the pages are like silk and in a pinch would feel not unpleasant on my bummy. You can dip into the book at any point, read two or three pages, and flush with the accomplished feeling that you understand a new poem. Poetry scholar Helen Vendler takes 150 of Dickinson’s poems and not only explains them, she opens each one up, throws the doors wide open and amazes readers with how much is going on behind Dickinson’s plain style and compact verses. I’m in awe of Helen Vendler almost as much as Dickinson. She’s a perfect guide. How nice it would be to have Ms. Vendler take me by the hand through the halls of poetry, pointing out things I hadn’t noticed and explaining what I thought I couldn’t understand.
She’s an interesting gal, this Helen Vendler. She majored in chemistry as an undergrad and got a Fulbright scholarship to study math, but here she is, one of our most esteemed literary critics. You can read a wonderful interview with her here, where she weighs in on everything from the importance of memorizing poetry to how her study of science relates to her work with poetry. I just love her big big brain and good sense.
She’s written a book on Shakespeare’s sonnets in a similar format to the Dickinson one. As long as I’ve got presents on the brain, I might as well mention that if anyone related to me is thinking about Christmas presents, her Shakespeare book is at the top of my list.
I really could use a new book in the guest bathroom.
i bust out laughing when you wrote about “powdered milk”. i thought we were the only ones who used that. of course we always cut it half and half with whole milk but still i can remember that awful poof of powder when you first stirred it into the water and it wouldn’t dissolve right away. how blessed are we now? and our kids??!
in addition, your mention of vendler, having been a chemistry and math expert and then becoming a literary critic, goes right along with our girls changing their directions in their lives right now, doesn’t it? it feels good to hear stories of those who’ve changed direction and found their passion. great example.
now will my caramels make it to your gift list??? ha! i think i need to be more creative.
barb
Your caramels are already in my belly and can’t be photographed. No need to get more creative with gifts–I’m loving what you came up with!