Civil War

By Lesley Dill on MON, MAY 26TH 2008, NOON

Letters of inspiration to Daniel Hughes, music director for Divide Light and director of The Choral Project (TCP) from Lesley Dill

Dear Daniel and TCP,

On this day, Memorial Day, it is good to remember that Emily Dickinson was writing much of her poetry during the Civil War. The men of her town of Amherst were decimated by the war. They were killed, wounded and far away from home, and they brought back home sickness and disease, writing letters all the while.

Her language, through the language of the internal world is also the language of fact - she writes of death, sorrow and loneliness ("For each ecstatic instant, I am afraid, wounded deer, loneliness are songs you will be singing"). And perhaps that is one reason why her language is so refreshing to us — it speaks the truth of things with the insight of naming.

Duty, honor, respect,
Lesley