EMILY DICKINSON AND GEOLOGY: A 19TH CENTURY POET'S USE OF SCIENCE

About 15% of Emily Dickinson's hundreds of poems deal with themes from nature. Biological and meteorological images predominate, but there is a thin stream of geological terms that runs throughout - mentions of rocks, stones, mountains, hills, streams, and even volcanoes. During her lifetime Dickinson (1830-1886) traveled very little beyond Amherst, Massachusetts; so where did she acquire a cosmopolitan view of Earth? Her geological knowledge stemmed from attendance at Amherst Academy (1840-46) and one year (1847-48) at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (later Mount Holyoke College). There she was taught by geologist Edward Hitchcock and his protégé, the educator Mary Lyon. Hitchcock's research centered on the geology of Massachusetts, but he wrote influential textbooks that covered all aspects of geology as then known. His textbooks were infused with religious themes that seem quaint now but were part of the appeal for his contemporaries, including Dickinson. For today's teachers of geology, the example of Emily Dickinson's creative use of geology can be used to inspire students comfortable with literature but hesitant about science.