william logan Dickinson’s Nerves, Frost’s Woods Poetr y in the Shadow of the Past dickinson’s nerves, frost’s woods william logan Dickinson’s Nerves, Frost’s Woods Poetr y in the Shadow of the Past columbia university press New York ​ columbia university press Publishers Since 1893 new york chichester, west sussex cup​​.columbia​.​edu Copyright​©​2018​William​Logan Paperback​edition,​2021 All​rights​reserved Library​of​Congress​Cataloging-in-Publication​Data Names:​Logan,​William,​1950​November​16–​author. Title:​Dickinson’s​nerves,​Frost’s​woods​:​poetry​in​the​shadow​of​the​past​/​William​Logan. Description:​New​York​:​Columbia​University​Press,​[2018]​|​​ Includes​bibliographical​references​and​index.​ Identifiers:​LCCN​2017055936​(print)​|​LCCN​2017056235​(ebook)​|​​ ISBN​9780231546515​(e-book)​|​ISBN​9780231186148​(cloth)​| ISBN​9780231186155​(pbk.) Subjects:​LCSH:​English​poetry—History​and​criticism.​|​American​poetry—History​​ and​criticism.​|​Poetry—Psychological​aspects.​|​Poetics. Classification:​LCC​PR503​(ebook)​|​LCC​PR503​.L59​2018​(print)​|​DDC​821.009—dc23 LC​record​available​at​https:​​//lccn​​.loc​​.gov​​/2017055936 Cover​image:​Debora​Greger​ For Debora Greger What you look hard at seems to look hard at you. —Gerard Manley Hopkins, Journals and Papers This evening at the ball given by the . . . Marchioness of Lon- donderry, I had my first glimpse here of the polonaise and the mazurka, both danced very badly. We ate in the sculpture gallery, where many of the statues had been topped and draped by the ladies’ hats and shawls, something that really sparked one’s artistic sensibilities! —Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, Letters of a Dead Man He was the elected Xerxes of vast herds of wild horses. . . . At their flaming head he westward trooped it like that chosen star which every evening leads on the hosts of light. —Herman Melville, Moby-Dick Contents List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xiii Notes Toward an Introduction 1 1. Shelley’s Wrinkled Lip, Smith’s Gigantic Leg 9 2. Frost’s Horse, Wilbur’s Ride 31 3. Lowell’s Skunk, Heaney’s Skunk 49 4. Longfellow’s Hiawatha, Carroll’s Hiawatha: The Name and Nature of Parody 79 5. Keats’s Chapman’s Homer, Justice’s Henry James 109 6. Shakespeare’s Rotten Weeds, Shakespeare’s Deep Trenches 149 7. Pound’s Métro, Williams’s Wheelbarrow 171 8. Dickinson’s Nerves, Frost’s Woods 227 Permissions 315 Notes 317 Index 373