892.1865.Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die

892.1865.Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die

Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born—

“Another intriguing thing about this poem is that we don’t know if it is complete, or unfinished. Thomas Johnson describes it as being a ‘pencilled scrap, a jotting perhaps intended for future use.’ Was it? Or is it complete as is? What do you think?

“I found an article online by David Lehman in which he talks about a poetry contest in which poets were asked to use these lines as the first two of a quatrain. Lehman writes,

“Here’s my try,

“Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born—
Still can’t do what you can do
within some cloud of form.

“Okay, now you.

-/)dam l)eGraff”

Anonymous

“Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born—
Talk secretly to each other’s Ears
through the cracks in Time’s Walls

nateApril 12, 2026 at 10:57 AM

“Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born—
But mind the wilds of paradise—
For sign of ancestor

Tom CApril 12, 2026

“Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born—
They walk upon the floor of Sea
Where — silver Fins — do earn

AnonymousMay 31, 2026

“Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born—
Whose golden crowns forever shine,
Whose purple – never worn –

Larry BNovember 3, 2026 at 10:28 AM

Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born—
I tell myself that I don’t care
But save each scrap of line:

My imagined letter from ED to Vinnie:

“Thanks Vinnie,

You burned my letters as I asked, but I left it up to you whether to burn my poems. You didn’t and I’m glad.

Affectionately,
Emily

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After commenting on Poems 1-763 (Franklin) on The Prowling Bee’, I am convinced that (virtually) all of Emily Dickinson’s (ED’s) poems have a factual historical level in addition to their various poetic levels of meaning. The reason for her instant and continuing public adulation (1890 - present) was and is, by far, poetic. She is one of the "Greats" that she always dreamed to be, despite her lifelong refusal to publish. That refusal freed her from criticism and allowed her to explore the outer boundaries of poetic power.

More than a century of scholarly research has resulted in somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 books and published academic papers about ED. A large majority of these publications focus only on the “poetic levels” of one or more of ED’s poems. Publications that consider both the “historic level” and “poetic levels” comprise a small minority. Publications that focus only on the factual history of her life probably number less than 100. (All numbers in this paragraph are my estimates.)

Unfortunately for ED’s universe of readers, these two basic levels (historical and poetic) cannot be separated into two ivory towers. Every history-level publication that I know of includes at least some discussion of the poetic level(s).

The reverse is not true. In fact, authors of the “poetry-level” school seem to avoid commenting on the historical level, sometimes admonishing that a poem must stand on its own, without concern for its historical roots. To my knowledge, there are (virtually) no published “history-level” books or articles that totally ignore ED’s poems and their poetic levels.

Of course, ED’s refusal to publish her poems was only possible because of lifelong financial and daily social/housekeeping support by her family, especially her father and sister, respectively. In addition, throughout her life, the Dickinsons hired servants, first Negro and later Irish, some of whom became much more than housekeepers for ED.

My point is that our appreciation of ED's poems can be enhanced by understanding both poetic and historical levels of her sound and sense. We impoverish ourselves if we ignore their historical base.