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A Pen has so many inflections and a Voice but one.
– Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson's pen certainly had many inflections on the page, and a live voice, although less vast, can help us hear some of that richness. A voice can untangle a moment of syntax that might look impenetrable. It can breathe into a line dense with dashes, or clarify a patch of dialogue.
This webpage offers audio recordings of the twenty-five poems that I Told My Soul to Sing explores in detail. You’ll find each poem’s first line, as well as the title of the book’s section in which it appears. Click on the arrows to listen.
CONVERSION: I shall keep singing! SCRIPTURE: I held a Jewel in my fingers – DOUBT: Though the great Waters sleep BELIEF: He showed me Hights I never saw – PROOF: That I did always love PRAYER: Prayer is the little implement INTERCESSION: I found the words to every thought
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JESUS: Jesus! thy Crucifix GOD: The Infinite a sudden Guest INCARNATION: Perhaps you think Me stooping LEARNING TO DIE: Let down the Bars, Oh Death – MORTALITY: That Such have died enable Us CRUCIFIXION: One Crucifixion is recorded – only – EASTER: Dust is the only secret – LIFE: Best Things dwell out of Sight AFTERLIFE: Behind me – dips Eternity – RESURRECTION: Obtaining but his own extent SILENCE: Speech is one symptom of affection IMMORTALITY: I live with Him – I see His face – ECSTACY: Take all away from me, but leave me Ecstasy PORTRAIT: The Bobolink is gone – GRASPED BY GOD: I heard, as if I had no Ear REVELATION: Through the Dark Sod – as Education – BEAUTY: The Bird her punctual music brings
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