They had it in the hallway downstairs, and I think she cracked the door open so she could hear it. She was born in 1830 in Amherst, and around age 36, she began staying in her room to the point where, even for her father’s funeral in 1874, she stayed in her room. One of the things that I wondered about the show was how it would marry Dickinson’s poetry with the reality of her life. And I feel like her poetry has this idea of like: Life is out there. You’re just like: Oh! Boys exist, and I don’t know any! Maybe you guys didn’t write poems when you were 12, but I did. And when you’re 12, you feel everything so intensely. And I think one of the reasons is because she just has that intensity of feeling in her poetry. Gilbert: Like many, I fell in love with the poems of Emily Dickinson when I was a 12-year-old girl. It’s more about leaving you with a feeling than about the story.
But in general, what is so great about it is the way it’s a collage between these different moments that apes the qualities of poetry. There are times when they’ll be twerking or swearing or having sex scenes in the orchard, and I feel it taking me out of it with its extremity. Even though it’s obviously not set in the time of the internet, it’s playing with the kind of fractured, attention-seeking mentality of content and discourse in our era.Īnd it’s interesting to think about that in relation to Emily Dickinson, who seemed pretty uninterested, in her life, in getting any sort of notoriety or fame. It is such a modern show, and such an internet-era show. Or to have a think piece written about it. While it can be a little slapstick or over-the-top in a way that really connects with me, sometimes it feels like the show is just doing something for the GIFs. Kornhaber: I think it sometimes wants to create a reaction and you can see its gears of zaniness turning. Gilbert: Spencer, do the show’s anachronisms and overall vibe work for you? Read: Bridgerton, Dickinson, and the new era of gossip That premise is then layered with this overall capital- V Vibe, and the only thing really keeping it grounded is the painstaking detail in recreating 19th-century Amherst down to the costumes and the sets. She didn’t really fit into her society all that well, so recasting her as this millennial voice enhances that contrast. Li: The way we’ve learned about Emily Dickinson has always been kind of different from who she perhaps really was. It’s less a story about Emily Dickinson than it is a kind of attempt to imagine the person who wrote these poems, reimagined within our own temporal context. And Shirley, you talked last week on our Spencer podcast about how Spencer is less an accurate historical portrait of Princess Diana than a “soul study.” And that’s such a good way of describing Dickinson too. Every episode is based around an Emily Dickinson poem. It’s lots of character-driven studies and poetry. Because there’s not an enormous amount of plot. You really want to stay in its mood once you’re open to it and its characters. Gilbert: I do think this is a show that needs to be binged. And then the next thing I knew, I had binged all of the screeners in one night. Li: I am a huge fan of using em dashes to the consternation of my editors, so I am indeed a fan of Emily Dickinson and therefore a fan of the show. But I wanted to ask you first: Are you fans of the show? And so we’re going to talk today about why it works and also about Emily Dickinson’s relationship with The Atlantic, which features in Season 3 in a fun way. Gilbert: It has an atmosphere where it’s Very Online. Kornhaber: ( Laughs.) Yes, very that energy.
Li: “Billie Eilish and Mitski on the soundtrack …” Gilbert: “John Mulaney as Henry David Thoreau … Jason Mantzoukas as a bee …” Spencer Kornhaber: Or it was like Stefon from SNL being like: “This show has everything: Emily Dickinson played by Hailee Steinfeld … Wiz Khalifa as Death …”
Shirley Li: Yeah, I definitely tweeted something along the lines of “Mad Libs TV strikes again! is going to star as in on. I remember when it was first announced we were all a bit skeptical about it as one of the leads in Apple’s new slate. Characters might say they’re “hella stoked” about the railroad coming to Amherst, or that they’re staying in for “novels and chill.” It’s an unusual show.
The dialogue is full of anachronistic 21st-century slang. I think I described it once as a “bonkers Gen Z fever dream.” It has a modern soundtrack.
The show is a reimagining of the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson’s life in the 19th century, but it’s not a period drama or a pure biopic. Sophie Gilbert: Today we’re talking about Apple TV’s Dickinson, now in its third and final season. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.