A room with a view Students in the women's studies seminar "Emily Dickinson in Her Times" gather in Emily Dickinson's bedroom with Martha Ackmann (in doorway) and Emily Dickinson Homestead Curator Cindy Dickinson (closest to bed).
The class meets weekly at the Dickinson Homestead in Amherst, home of poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). Dickinson lived most of her life at the Homestead, rarely leaving the property in her later years and composing most of her 1,775 known poems there. By transporting students in Dickinson's world through exposure to her poetry and correspondence, primary and secondary sources, and her milieu, Ackmann is "erasing twentieth-century perceptions, providing a familial, cultural, gendered, and historical context that allows for a better understanding of Dickinson's work."
Students quickly began to see Dickinson in a new light. Ackmann was speaking to the group in the poet's bedroom when she noticed that many students seemed distracted. Having recently read Dickinson's poem "There's a certain Slant of light," students were entranced by the light pouring into Dickinson's room that day. Many imagined that the poet had seen something similar, when she described a "certain Slant of light,/Winter Afternoons--/That oppresses, like the Heft/Of Cathedral Tunes--"
Class topics range from Dickinson's family and friends, education, and seclusion to her poetic style and themes. Each student analyzes her poetry and is researching and writing about an aspect of Dickinson's life, utilizing archives and special collections. For example, Elissa Haskins '99 is researching the "water cures" popular during Dickinson's time. Anne Kelson '99 has been granted permission to see the only surviving white dress worn by the poet, who favored a minimalist approach to dress and wore only white during her later years.
The class is the perfect marriage for Ackmann, a Dickinson scholar and coordinator of MHC's community-based learning (CBL) program. Sarah Ingram '99 couldn't be more enthusiastic about CBL. "Meeting in the Homestead has proven to me that the classroom is not necessarily the best, or most effective, place to learn. Wandering around Dickinson's home, holding class in her bedroom and garden, has given all of us a tangible connection to Dickinson and a new perspective on her work," she says.
When it comes to CBL, the community reaps benefits as MHC students learn. Ackmann's students are learning about exhibit research and design from Homestead Curator Cindy Dickinson (no relation), with whom they are working to develop an exhibit on the influence of Dickinson's education on her life and poetry. The exhibit will be on view at the Homestead beginning in the spring; the class will prepare related materials for the Homestead guides. "I don't have the time to put together an exhibit like this, so it's great that the students are taking it on," remarked Cindy Dickinson.
In addition to collaborating with Cindy Dickinson, the class visited Amherst's Jones Library, home of a research collection focused on Dickinson and her town, to meet with Curator of Special Collections Daniel Lombardo. "I wish I could take this class," he says. "Working with a scholar of Martha's caliber in Dickinson's home is a tremendously thrilling opportunity." When talking with members of Ackmann's class, it is hard to find anyone who would disagree.
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