Celebrating Emily
Dickinson: Readings, Discussions and a Garden Walk
May 20, 6-8
p.m., The Visitor Center & Conservatory, $5 includes reception
The State Botanical Garden of Georgia, 2450 South
Milledge Avenue, Athens
When volunteer Greg Wagstaff approached the State Botanical Garden of
Georgia to create an event around Emily Dickinson in the garden, the
brainstorming that followed led to "Celebrating Emily Dickinson:
Readings, Discussions and a Garden Walk" on May 20, 6-8 p.m.
This $5 event (free for Friends of the Garden) will include an opening
reception at 6 pm, a talk by Greg about Dickinson with at 6:30 pm, a guided
poetry walk through the State Botanical Garden, and an illustrated brochure
that will be available at the Garden’s front desk for the next few weeks. Highlighting
the program will be readings by graduate student Emily Stutler, Stephen Corey, Editor
of the Georgia Review, and Caroline Jean Bartunek of the Georgia Review. Greg consulted
with leading authorities on Emily Dickinson in the Northeast (Dickinson was
born in Massachusetts in 1830), garden curators, Master Gardeners, and The
Georgia Review staff for direction and ideas.
Scheduling the event seemed to coincide with ‘Celebrating
Wildflowers Week’ at the Garden, which included led walks by the Conservation
Biologist and working beside the Conservation Horticulturist. Would this fit in
with these events?
“Certainly!” Greg replied. “When
Emily Dickinson was a student at Amherst Academy, she roamed the woods
collecting wildflower specimens and pressing them into her own herbarium.”
Emily's collection can be seen online at: http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/4184689
Dickinson’s
love of flowers and natural areas are often expressed in her poetry, but she
saw very few of her poems published. “During her lifetime, only a few people
knew that Emily was a poet, but everyone knew that she was a gardener.” Greg
wrote in the brochure.
Join
us Tuesday, May 20 for an evening celebrating nature and a lady that many
believe to be ‘America’s greatest poet.’ And meet Greg, now on staff at the
State Botanical Garden. Information
at www.botgarden.uga.edu or (706) 542-9353.
Emily Dickinson poems:
Source:
THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON, Thomas H. Johnson, ed., Cambridge, Mass.: The
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1951, 1955, 1979, 1983
by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
J404 - How many Flowers fail in Wood --
How many Flowers fail in Wood --
Or perish from the Hill --
Without the privilege to know
That they are Beautiful --
J111 - The Bee is not afraid of me.
The Bee is not
afraid of me.
I know the Butterfly.
The pretty people in the Woods
Receive me cordially --
J1650 - A lane of Yellow led the eye
A lane of
Yellow led the eye
Unto a Purple Wood
Whose soft inhabitants to be
Surpasses solitude
A useful link to Emily Dickinson
activities and lessons:
Other events during
‘Celebrating Wildflowers Week’:
Conservation Work Day
May 20, 9 a.m.-noon
Mimsie Lanier Center for Native Plant Studies
RSVP to jceska@uga.edu
Botanical Garden Wildflower Walk with Conservation
Botanist Linda Chafin
May 21, 4:15 p.m.
Meet under the shade arbor beside the Callaway parking lot
RSVP to 706-542-9353
Rock and Shoals Native Plant Walk with
Conservation Botanist Linda Chafin
May 22, 9 a.m.
Meet at the Callaway parking lot to carpool to site
RSVP to 706-542-9353
The State Botanical Garden is a public service and
outreach unit at the University of Georgia. For more information call
706-542-9353, email garden@uga.edu or see botgarden.uga.edu.
