Dickinson and the Art of Cooking: More Similar than One Thinks

          Emily Dickinson is a chef with words—she adds a dash of rhyme and meter to her work, a splash of unusual punctuation and capitalization, and a drizzle of alternative word choices. She adds many elements to her writing to make her work more interesting and unique compared to other poets. Her unusual choices in her work can be compared to the work that a chef does to his or her food. Although not seemingly similar at first, there are many similarities between the art of cooking and the poetry of Emily Dickinson.

            A similarity between Dickinson poetry and cooking is how one has to follow a formula or pattern but can follow it loosely. Emily Dickinson seems to loosely follow a meter in most of her poems. Although not necessarily the same between different poems, each work generally follows a set number of syllables and stresses for each line. One can easily see this example in poem 359 where she uses a short meter.

A Bird, came down the Walk -

He did not know I saw -

He bit an Angle Worm in halves

And ate the fellow, raw,

Dickinson’s use of a meter is comparable to a recipe. She uses the number of syllables that are required and fills in words with her imagination. An almost identical process happens in cooking. A recipe is meant to be followed, but only to a certain degree. One must follow the recipe a little, otherwise the dish may not rise, could burn, or have bad flavor. However, within the guidelines of the recipe there is room to be inventive. In a poem, if a meter is not followed, there is a chance of the poem not sounding melodic or bad to the ears. Similarly, a recipe must be followed to ensure that the dish tastes good, but the food can still be unique to a chef.

            One of the things that makes the poetry of Emily Dickinson unique is her use of punctuation, which adds spice to her writing. Dickinson is well known for her unusual placement and choice of punctuation and capitalization. She often used dashes and exclamation marks at the end of her lines, in addition to seemingly random capitalization in the middle of a line, such as in the last line of her poem number 372, where she writes “First - Chill - then Stupor - then the letting go-.” There is no grammatical reason for her to capitalize the words or add the dashes, however it adds interest to the work. Originally, this was often seen as erroneous by editors and removed from the poems. However, her use of punctuation makes her work unique and adds more flavor. Punctuation is to Dickinson as spices are to cooking. Food tastes bland and nondescript without the use of spices. Spices, such as a dash of cayenne pepper or nutmeg instantly brings a meal to life. Seasoning gives the dish character and makes it more interesting to the palate like punctuation works in writing.

            Because Emily Dickinson never intended for her poems to be published, she often left marks on the page with possible changes to certain words[1]. Often the words that she would supply as an alternative would have a completely different meaning compared to the original. As the Emily Dickinson museum states: “Sometimes words with radically different meanings are suggested as possible alternatives.” The way Dickinson provided alternatives for her writing is much like how a chef is able to use different ingredients to achieve the same flavor or desired effect.  If one does not have buttermilk on hand, one can achieve the desired effect by mixing lemon juice with milk and letting it sit for five minutes. Although it is not the same product, the final result ends up being the same.

Emily Dickinson is like a chef with her poetry. She adds punctuation and capitalization to add interest to keep her poems from being bland, how a chef would add spices to his cooking to achieve the same effect. Dickinson follows a meter loosely, however sometimes strays just like how it is important to follow a recipe but one can add a personal touch. Lastly, Dickinson provided possible different options for some words in her poetry. Her doing this can be compared to using different ingredients to achieve the same end result. Although one may not immediately connect the two, there are many similarities between the work of Emily Dickinson and the art of cooking.

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[1] “FAQ.” Emily Dickinson Archive. January 7, 2015.