Emily Dickinson - Amherst, MA
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neoc1
N 42° 22.532 W 072° 31.200
18T E 704181 N 4694451
A terracotta tile plaque, a tribute to the 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson, is located on the southeast side of the Bank of America Building at S. Pleasant Street and Amity Street in Amherst, MA.
Waymark Code: WM1101P
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 07/21/2019
Views: 1
A series of nine terracotta tile plaques created by Judith Inglese and Helena Dooley Metha in 1999 honor poets and writers who have a connection to Amherst, MA.
An 10" by 8" terracotta tile plaque contains the first two lines from Emily Dickinson's poem "I’ll tell you how the sun rose". This nuanced poem is written in two parts each with two stanzas. The first part is an optimistic sunrise and then a more subdued sunset. Both parts employ imagery. The plaque contains an image of a rising sun with its ribbons of light and the inscription:
I’LL TELL YOU
HOW THE SUN ROSE,
A RIBBON AT A TIME.
EMILY DICKINSON
Amherst, MA was the home of Emily Dickinson, known as the "Belle of Amherst"; arguably the most famous American poetess. She is world renowned for her brief, insightful poetry. The house she rarely left and her grave-site are only a few hundred meters apart. She lived at her family home at 280 Main St. in Amherst and is buried in North Amherst Cemetery.
Emily Dickinson was raised in a puritanical tradition, beliefs she would later challenge. Reclusive and shy, she never married but dedicated her life to writing poetry. Only seven of her poems were ever published in her lifetime. After she died, it was discovered that she had written a total of 1,775 poems arranged into four themes: Friends, Nature, Love, and Death. Many of her poems were published posthumously.
Complete poem:
I’ll tell you how the sun rose,
A ribbon at a time.
The steeples swam in amethyst,
The news like squirrels ran.
The hills untied their bonnets,
The bobolinks begun.
Then I said softly to myself,
"That must have been the sun!"
But how he set, I know not.
There seemed a purple stile.
Which little yellow boys and girls
Were climbing all the while
Till when they reached the other side,
A dominie in gray
Put gently up the evening bars,
And led the flock away.