Before I Got My Eye Put Out - The Poetry of Emily Dickinson: Crash Course English Literature #8

In which John Green concludes the Crash Course Literature mini-series with an examination of the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Sure, John explores the creepy biographical details of Dickinson's life, but he also gets into why her poems have remained relevant over the decades. John discusses Dickinson's language, the structure of her work, and her cake recipes. He also talks about Dickinson's famously eccentric punctuation, which again ends up relating to her cake recipes. Also, Dickinson's coconut cake recipe is included. Also, here are links to some of the poems discussed in the video:

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[rafi]

With Emily Dickinson poems half of the time I don't understand at all whatsoever, and the other half I'm blown away with how much sense some of the poems make.

[Zamstein]

I feel like I could spend 10 years studying her poetry. Like it could be it’s own major.

[GiuliaSocolof]

“Dickinson rarely left her house and often talked to visitors through a closed door.” Sounds like my standard Saturday with Netflix

[TheaterRaven]

"Between 1858 and 1865, Emily Dickinson wrote over 800 poems."

Sure, she was becoming more of a recluse at that time, but still, over 800 poems in seven years? Wow. And here it's been six years since I started writing my novel and I'm only on the second draft.

[AxelQC]

Dickinson is by far my favorite poet. She's the most relatable and the most subversive to her time.

[TwentySeventhLetter]

Why do any of the comments _not_ start with "Mr. Green, Mr. Green!"?

[erinsolomon]

Maybe the dashes are there to allow the reader, or even Emily herself, to take in what was written. She wants us to contemplate them and not just be willing to immediately move on to the finish line. Each line is meant to be a poem unto itself as well as to be a poem of a whole. There's the individual line - expression of the individual, vs the poem as a whole - expression and interpretation of society.

[sarkasticchik]

"The history of the United States matters to you because we're always meddling in your affairs." Never thought I would hear an American say that! More reasons to love John Green.

[Altorin]

I suffer from social anxiety disorder too, and rarely leave my room.

time to write poetry I guess.

[thistles.and.thread]

'i heard a fly buzz when i died' is an extremely important poem for me. my 11th grade american literature teacher read it to our class, and the "blue" uncertain stumbling buzz of the fly made my head hurt, because the sound of a fly buzzing is brown, not blue. my teacher then threw out the term 'synesthesia' which finally gave me a name for the weirdness i always had of seeing and feeling colors where there supposedly weren't any. anyway, thank you for this miniseries, john! it was awesome.

[TheFireflyGrave]

She Called red 'Fire's common tint.'  I dare say that's a mega-burn.

[aislingmcnamara]

Dear crash course peeps, I am currently binge watching crash course literature in an attempt to sleep on the night my best friend, my grandfather has passed away. thank you for being able to do this, and for making these lovely videos

[liamniallryan]

I think you should do a 6 part series on the Romantics (Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats) It would be epically awesome!!

[rueluxprince]

Why I love Crash Course: It tells you exactly what you need to know without all of the stupid introductory paragraphs and only one line of actual stuff. I passed almost all of my exams in school because of you guys, so thank you I guess.

[BettyBurner]

I wish this series had existed when I was in high school. I suck at reading, and I didn't like a lot of the books that I was "supposed" to read as a teenager. Crash Course does a good job at explaining why these books matter, why they resonate and why they're still so powerful today. It makes me want to read again.

[AvihuTurzion]

She used the same amount of dashes in her cake recipes because CAKE IS POETRY!

(and a lie, but mostly poetry)

[simar]

8:08 "This discomforting lack of closure is a hallmark of Dickinson's poetry, also of most of my romantic relationships"
Hahaha same Mr Green.

[clarinetato]

Actually, don't do flies come when bodies starts to rot? I'd guess that broken stillness, almost sacred and wished for after a lifetime of fearing death, is also a glimpse for what's coming; a sudden intruder of the real amidst ideal(ized) moments.
An the dash as as a resting body, as an eye closed, as a horizontal I.

[ximenapliego]

PLEASE John Green We need more videos on literature!

[anonnymus]

I was annoyed this video ended too soon. I need more Emily Dickinson analysis.