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Thread: Emily Dickinson's poems as song lyrics

  1. #1
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    Emily Dickinson's poems as song lyrics

    Hi there,

    I'm curious to hear opinions about these songs,
    in which Emily Dickinson's poems are presented as sung lyrics:


    Each that we lose takes part of us;
    A crescent still abides,
    Which like the moon, some turbid night,
    is summoned by the tides
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3eega6xzHU

    and:

    Nature rarer uses Yellow
    Than another Hue.
    Saves she all of that for Sunsets
    Prodigal of Blue

    Spending Scarlet, like a Woman
    Yellow she affords
    Only scantly and selectly
    Like a Lover's Words.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdkiMYE7rs



    Thx!
    Bee
    Last edited by Bee; 09-27-2015 at 02:35 AM.

  2. #2
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    Nice idea to put these poems to music. I liked the second one better than the first perhaps because I understood the poem more easily. The first poem had the idea that the tides summoned the moon which is backward from the way I think of it, and that just exposes my bias. The earth being larger would have more influence on the whole system than the moon. The music was soothing.

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    Thanks for your response!

    Your right that this moon - tides relation in the first poem is a bit strange,
    but this particular strangeness seems to be typical for Dickinson and I like
    the idea that that remaining "crescent" is summoned by the tides,
    although it's meant to summon itself.

    Bee

  4. #4
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    I wrote a song based on The Soul Selects Her Own Society (303) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1v7...&feature=share
    I'd be interested to know what fellow Dickinson fans think.

  5. #5
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    I remember having read a passage in Infinite Jest in which one of DFW's characters notes that Emily's poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" could be sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas."

  6. #6
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    Very nice song, Asha! Best of luck with your music.

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