Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
During my stay as an exchange student at Algona High School (Algona, Iowa/USA) in 1972-1972, Ms. Liz Rosonke who taught the 'American Litterature' class, introduced me to a small poem by the New England poet Emily Dickinson:
"To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few."
? / published 1896
No particular lover of poetry then - nor now... - I immediately was completely taken in: so few words, yet such ample thoughts... Thank you, Ms. Rosonke!
In 1984, as a singer in 'Venus', one of Utrecht's many student vocal ensembles, I stumbled on this text once more. It is included in the wonderfull cycle 'Songs of Love and Eternity' (1955) by the Dutch composer Rudolf Escher (1912-1983). Escher's sensitive musical rendition of Dickinson's exquisitely balanced words rekindled my love for her poetry. As we prepared the 'Songs' for concert performance and were compiling the concert's brochure I noticed the shoddy Dutch translation of Dickinson's exquisitely balanced words. "I surely can do better than that" - that brag started off an intense occupation with Dickinson, her poems and her life.
Over the years I have tried to translate, as sensitively as I could, a few scores of Dickinsons poems, which number 1775... On some occasions I wrote small texts on her life & poetry to introduce her to people around me - mostly within the framework of choral music. Plans to get my translations published in print haven't materialized (yet). I hope the bits&bytes of the internet will offer a suitable podium.
