The New York Times Books an Hour in Emily Dickinson's Room

New York Times takes a tip from Jezebel (reported on Harriet here) and reports on an hour spent "home alone" in Emily Dickinson's bedroom. Times reporter Sarah Lyall writes, "the room has particular resonance for scholars and lovers of her poetry. Several dozen people have worked (or perhaps just sat) alone in it for an hour or two since last July, when the museum began offering the private visits, said Brooke Steinhauser, the program director. They tend to arrive with a great passion for the poet and to leave with a new understanding of her place in their lives." Let's join Lyall's exploration:

"I wanted to see what it would be like to spend some time in that room," said Lanette Ward, 70, a retired English teacher from Atlanta who admires Dickinson so much she named her daughter Emily. She wrote there for two hours late one afternoon, as day turned to evening and a replica of one of Dickinson's famous white dresses, displayed in the room, began to take on special significance.

"Oh, yes, I felt closer to her," Ms. Ward said by phone later. "It felt magical to me, like being in an Emily Dickinson high holy place." She hadn't planned to write anything in particular, but what emerged, she said, were the beginnings of "a story of magical realism, very Southern Gothic, something about the dress being animated and beginning to move."

Maria Arenas, a 20-year-old student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, visited the room on Dec. 2 as a surprise birthday present from her family. Her father drove up to town to collect her.

"He was very mysterious about it," Ms. Arenas said. "He didn’t say where he was taking me, and then he handed me a little bag when we got to the center of Amherst with this notebook and a pack of pencils."

Installed in her spot, she let her mind wander and found Dickinson invading her thoughts. "I started writing whatever came out," she said. "I ended up writing a short story about a fish. It was very interesting."

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