In Apple TV+s Dickinson’s Episode 3.04, “This is my letter to the World”, Emily Dickinson (Hailee Steinfeld) begins her infamous written correspondence with Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson (Gabriel Ebert) of the Union forces, a commander of the first regiment comprised of Black American soldiers, known as the First South Carolina Regiment. Emily also meets American poet and inspiration, Walt Whitman (Billy Eichner).
Who better a resource for a poet who seeks to provide hope to those impacted by the cruelties of war than a commander with their boots on the battlefield and great poet aiding wounded soldiers? After spending the day with Walt Whitman, Emily takes more than just some pointers on how to be a great poet. She embarks on a road of self-acceptance and fully embraces her love for her best friend and lover, Sue Gilbert Dickinson (Ella Hunt).
The First of Many Letters | The mailmen have arrived in the early morning at the Dickinson household. Maggie (Darlene Hunt), the Dickinson family housekeeper, is retrieving the mail. A letter from the Confederacy addressed to Mr. Dickinson provokes an eye roll from Maggie.
From her window, Emily can see the mail wagon outside. Emily runs down to catch the two men before they leave to mail off a letter to abolitionist Colonel Higginson; And off the letter goes, down a long and weary trip to the South where Colonel Higginson and his men are stationed.
“We Will Win This War” | Henry (Chinaza Uche) has arrived at Colonel Higginson’s base camp and has been offered a position to teach the volunteer men of Colonel Higginson’s regiment. Henry is instructed to teach the men “to read and write, while at the same time, acknowledging the painful histories and racist power dynamic that’s embedded in the very language of English itself.”
Colonel Higginson learned of Henry due to Henry’s abolitionist paper, The Constellation, and his connection to John Brown, and recruited his help to aid the abolitionist cause. Henry accepts the position as teacher for Colonel Higginson’s regiment with a firm handshake. “We will win this war,” Colonel Higginson tells Henry with certainty. “Now, go change some lives.” Henry leaves to meet his students with an expression of fulfillment pasted to his face.
The ABC’s | Henry’s students are dressed down in Navy blue coats and red pants. They are gathered in a circle jamming to a poetic tune when Henry pulls up a chair and more or less kills the vibe with his teacher talk. Henry quickly learns the inequities the men have been enduring since volunteering with the Union.
To name a few, the men are given dirty, unfitted uniforms and shoes, and zero pay, as compared to the White men of the regiment. These men were promised $10 per week, but haven’t received a single penny; Nor have they been trained to fight or given any sort of weapon to fight with because the Army doesn’t trust them.
One of the men makes an important distinction of their reason to fight with the Union: “We’re not fighting on their side… We’re fighting for ourselves. This is our war. It’s not the same as theirs. It never will be.”
Henry agrees to advocate for the men’s needs with Colonel Higginson, but before he speaks with the colonel, Henry begins teaching his first lesson to his students: the ABCs.
“I Have a Date” | Emily unwraps a package under the dining table and out of the sight of her mother and father while they talk over lunch about the Union ransacking a plantation down south near Mr. Dickinson’s (Toby Huss) brother’s home. It’s a collection of poems titled “Leaves of Grass” written by American poet Walt Whitman. Emily, eager to read her new collection of poetry, gets up from the table to leave, remarking that she has a date with someone.
Emily escapes to the greenhouse and settles into a small sofa. She reads a portion of the poem “Song of Myself” aloud to herself:
“I Celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you…”
Emily pauses with a great sigh of satisfaction, and suddenly, Emily’s imagination launches her to a makeshift hospital in New York City that cares for wounded Union soldiers. She has gone there to meet Walt Whitman. Lucky for her, it wasn’t difficult to find him. Emily is scooped up by Whitman with a wheelchair almost as soon as she arrives.
Emily tells him that she is visiting him because she wants to be a great poet like he. Whitman explains to her that to be a great poet, you must be yourself and everyone else all at once. “You must not just ask the wounded person how he feels. You yourself must become the wounded person.”
While Whitman continues his cryptic lecture, Emily sees Louisa May Alcott (Zosia Mamet) is at the hospital as well working as a Civil War nurse. Louisa shares with Emily that she gathers some of the best material for her fiction stories.
Don’t Rock the Basinet | At Sue and Austin Dickinson’s (Adrian Blake Enscoe) home, several packages arrive for their newborn baby boy. Sue and Austin’s relationship continues to be tense. Austin tries to interact with his sleeping son by singing softly to him, but Sue asks him to leave their son alone so he doesn’t accidentally wake him. Austin’s drinking has certainly put a wedge between him and Sue. Sue expresses that she hopes their son doesn’t inherit all of his traits.
An Itchy Infestation | Back at the Dickinson home. Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson (Jane Krakowski) have come down with a mysterious itch. Maggie believes the source of the itch to be elves, explaining that Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson must have done something to upset the elves and now they are paying the price.
Lavinia Dickinson (Anna Baryshnikov) takes on a whole new form of empathy. She buried herself alive to honor them and to grasp a deeper understanding of what the soldiers must feel when they are buried. Lavinia wants to experience everything that they experience and feel all of their pain. Lavinia has also
been sleeping in the barn, which solves the source of the itch mystery. Lavinia has brought a flea infestation upon the Dickinson house.
“I love Sue!” | Emily and Whitman are pounding drinks at a New York City beer cellar and Emily is finally loosening up. Whitman insists that Emily feel “crazy and wild and free.” Whitman believes that the more feelings one experiences, the better. With that in mind, Whitman proposes an important question to Emily: “What turns you on?” Whitman goes on to say that maximum pleasure must be felt, not just pain.
Emily confides in Whitman that it is Sue who turns her on, and he encourages her to “say it out loud! Free love! Free expression!” Feeling brave, Emily finally shouts her love and desire for Sue to the world. She shouts at the top of her lungs “I love Sue! And I want her and I can’t get enough of her; And if I was on my death bed right now, all I would want is Sue!” In this very moment, Emily fully embraces her need for Sue and Sue’s love and the entire beer cellar rejoice with her. Emily then dances the night away with newfound freedom.
“Letter to the World” | Down south at camp, Higginson reads Emily’s letter to him:
“This is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me –
The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty.
Her message is committed
To hands I cannot see;
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!”
Dickinson Season 3 is now available to stream on Apple TV+.