Mabel Loomis Todd
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| Mabel Loomis Todd | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 10, 1856 Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Died | October 14, 1932 Hog Island, Maine |
| Occupation | writer and editor |
| Nationality | U.S. |
| Subjects | Emily Dickinson |
Mabel Loomis Todd or Mabel Loomis (November 10, 1856 – October 14, 1932) was an U.S. editor and writer, and wife of astronomer David Peck Todd. She is remembered as editor of posthumously published editions of Emily Dickinson.
Todd was born Mabel Loomis in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated from Georgetown Seminary in Washington, then studied music at the New England Conservatory in Boston.
On March 5, 1879, she married astronomer David Peck Todd, with whom she had one daughter, Millicent. Like many women, Mabel Loomis Todd had a passionate sexual nature. But unlike most such women, she wrote freely about it. The distinguished Yale historian Peter Gay quotes Todd in his well-received history The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud.
Just after her marriage: "Sweet communions. Oh joy! Oh! Bliss unutterable." And also "A little Heaven just after dinner." In May 1879, the day she got pregnant: "A very happy few minutes of love in our room."
She later had an affair with Austin Dickinson, the (married) brother of Emily. [1]
According to Peter Gay's distinguished book, as reviewed in Time Magazine of January 23, 1984, Todd kissed Austin Dickinson after he had died, kissed "the dear body, every inch of which I know and love so utterly."
She became friends with the Dickinsons, and though she never met Emily Dickinson in person, they exchanged letters. After Emily's death in 1886, hundreds of her unpublished poems were discovered, and Todd was chosen as editor by the family. In 1888, her endeavor was joined by Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The first volume of Poems by Emily Dickinson was published in 1890. This version included many alterations by Todd.
Todd was a member of the Audubon Society.
Mabel Loomis Todd died in Hog Island, Maine.
[edit] Own works
- Footprints (1883)
- Total Eclipses of the Sun (1894)
- Corona and Coronet (1898)
- A Cycle of Sunsets (1910)
- Tripoli the Mysterious (1912)
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Austin and Mabel: The Amherst Affair & Love Letters of Austin Dickinson and Mabel Loomis Todd (ISBN 0-374-10716-5)
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Todd, Mabel Loomis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Loomis, Mabel |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | editor and writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 10, 1856 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 14, 1932 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Hog Island, Maine |
