When designing the book jacket for Emily Dickinson’s three poems, “They shut me up in prose-” “The brain is wider than the sky-” and “I dwell in possibility-” I created my project revolving around the idea of a woman’s mind being locked away and compared metaphorically in the poems. This theme helped me to choose candidates for the promotional blurbs and images on the book cover.

At the top of the cover I added a bunch of scattered stars with a girl writing underneath because in the poem, “They shut me up in prose-” the line “easy as a Star” means that the speaker (who can be assumed is Dickinson) can escape being trapped as easily as a star shines in the sky. So with the stars looking down on the girl writing (Dickinson), it shows that the stars are above her, watching from a higher place. That connects to the poem because the speaker feels like she can rise above the people trying to control her, just like a star looks down on everything below. The drawing shows that even though she’s stuck in a room or in “prose,” her mind is free, just like how nothing can reach a star or lock it up. The stars don’t have to fight to be free—they just are. That’s exactly what Dickinson is saying about her own mind. No matter how much people try to “shut her up” or put her in a “closet”, her thoughts can still rise up and look down on all of that like it’s nothing.

The ocean in the background refers to the poem “The brain is wider than the sky-” because Dickinson says the brain can hold the entire ocean “as easy as a sponge” absorbs water. The drawing of the sponge shows how easily it is able to soak up something as big as an ocean. This connects to the poem because Dickinson is saying your brain is small like a sponge, but it has the power to understand and contain the whole world—even something as big as the ocean. The drawing shows that size doesn’t matter when it comes to the power of your mind. You don’t need to be big to be powerful. A sponge looks tiny and weak compared to the ocean, but it can soak up gallons of water. That’s the whole point Dickinson is making. People might look at a woman and think she’s small or weak, but her brain can hold the sky, the ocean, and everything in between. The ocean drawing behind everything reminds you how huge the world is, and the little sponge proves that something small can take on something massive.

The house on the bottom left of the page correlates to the poem “I dwell in possibility-” where Dickinson compares possibility to a house. She says this house has “wider windows” and “doors” that lead to amazing places. By drawing a beautiful house with open doors and windows, it shows that her imagination is like a home where anything is possible. Unlike a regular house that keeps you inside, this “house of possibility” lets her mind run free and explore endless ideas. The drawing connects to the poem because it shows that poetry and imagination give her a safe but limitless place to live. Rather than the small boring world of normal rules and “prose.” A regular house has walls that close you in, but Dickinson’s house has doors that open up to everywhere at once. You can see the open doors and windows in the drawing, which makes you feel like you could walk right through them into a whole new world. That’s how Dickinson feels about poetry—it’s not a cage, it’s a home that has no limits.

I chose Anne Bradstreet as the first promotional blurb out of other authors for Emily Dickinson because both are poets who broke the rules for women in their time. Bradstreet was one of the first American women to publish poetry back in the 1600’s, even though people thought women should only focus on being a wife and mother. Dickinson, who wrote in the 1800s, also fought back against society’s expectations by staying inside and writing poems about her huge inner world instead of getting married or following normal “prose” life. So by putting Bradstreet’s promotional blurb on the cover it sends that message of one brave and powerful woman encouraging another. It connects them as two accomplished feminists who proved that women’s minds are just as powerful—if not more powerful—than anything society tries to label them to be. Bradstreet had to hide her writing at first because people would judge her, and Dickinson had to deal with people thinking she was weird for staying in her room and writing—not to mention she also wasn’t allowed to be a published writer being a woman. They both knew what it felt like to be told to be quiet, and they both ignored it.

The main reason I chose to use Donna Pinciotti for the second promotional blurb is because she is also a huge feminist and from my favorite tv show, That ’70s Show. Neither of them care about fitting into what society says women should be. Donna is a strong, smart, independent and outspoken feminist who speaks her mind. She wears what she wants and refuses to be the quiet obedient girlfriend that everyone expects her to be. In Dickinson’s poems she talks about how people try to trap women in boring obedient lives but she escapes through her imagination and poetry. So by putting Donna’s promotional blurb on the cover it emphasizes how much Dickinson advocates for women’s rights. Both Donna and Emily prove that having a big brain and a bold spirit is way better than doing what you’re told. Donna would totally read Dickinson’s poems and be like, “Yeah, I get it. They want you to be small and quiet, but you refuse.” That’s why she works as a blurb—because she represents the same kind of attitude in a more modern and relatable way. She shows that Dickinson’s message isn’t just old poetry from the 1800’s. It’s still alive today for anyone who’s ever been told to shrink themselves down and fit inside someone else’s boring little box.