Susan Gilbert Dickinson
American · 19th century
Sister-in-law, lifelong correspondent, and intimate companion of the American poet Emily Dickinson; wife of Austin Dickinson, Emily's brother. Recipient of many of Emily's most charged letters and poems.
Connection to Taylor Swift
The biographical 'you' in the Susan-and-Emily reading of ivy: the addressee of an intense, sustained, and contested intimacy with a poet who could only approach her in coded forms. The obituary line 'her life was rich and all aglow with God and significance of life' is quoted in the episode as a possible source for the song's tone.
Notable Works
- Obituary of Emily Dickinson (1886); extensive correspondence with Emily Dickinson
Appears in the Archive
Context within the Archive
Obituary of Emily Dickinson (1886)
Susan Gilbert Dickinson's obituary of her sister-in-law Emily Dickinson is quoted on-air by Uncle Jerry as a possible source for ivy's tone in the Susan-and-Emily biographical reading. The line 'her life was rich and all aglow' is offered as a candidate emotional register the poem may be drawing on, with Susan as the candidate addressee.