NOTES

This letter was sent to Susan Dickinson in 1863, seven years after the former Susan Gilbert married Emily Dickinson's older brother Austin. Dickinson shifts from her practice of using allusions to exotic locations to exalt beauty and riches to dismissing the attributes of such places in favor of the gift of jewelweed (the "Topaz" and "Blaze") that she sent to Susan Dickinson along with this letter.

Vera Cruz: a major port city in Mexico discovered by Cortez, known for its beautiful beaches and for its tumultuous history, shaped by numerous militant attempts by the French, British, Spanish and, later in the 19th century, Americans, to colonize the area.

St Domingo:from the early days of colonialism in the Americas through the 19th century, St Domingo referred to the entire island bordered to the south by the Carribean Sea and to the north by the North Atlantic Ocean, although it now refers to the capitol city of the Dominican Republic. Until 1859 when the present governements of Haiti and the Dominican Republic were established, the native population vied with French, British, and Spanish colonial forces for control of the island; it was the site of a violent 19th century slave rebellion.For more information on Santo Domingo's culture and the slave rebellion, follow this link to The Santo Domingo Moment .

Bahamas: Columbus landed on these sub-tropical islands in 1492. Although the islands were not actually colonized, the friendly natives were exterminated. This area became important as a blockade of Southern ports during the Civil War.

Dower:"that portion of the lands or property which his widow enjoys during her life, after the death of her husband [This is the usual present signification of the word.] 2: the property which a woman brings to her husband in marriage. 3: the gift of a husband for a wife, "Ask me never so much a dowry and gift." - Gen XXXIV. 4: endowment; gift, "How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower."-Davies." (Webster's Dictionary, 1856).

Bobadilo: may be a reference to Francisco de Bobadillo, the Spanish governor from the West Indies, who died 1502; he was famous for seizing an enormous treasure from his enemy, Columbus, the latter of whom had stolen his treasure from West Indian natives.

Corresponds to poem#697 in Johnson.