Analysis Of Barbara Dickinson's 'No. 441'

Barbara Morgan’s 1940 “Letter to the World (Kick)’’ expertly captures the disappointment articulated in Emily Dickinson’s poem No. 441, as portrayed in Martha Graham’s seminal performance. The Smithsonian Magazine asserts it may be the most famous photograph ever taken of an American dancer, ranking in honor with Ansel Adam’s photography (Acocella).

The kick movement depicted is one in a series from the original Graham choreography, intended to interpret the apogee of Dickinson’s despair at the world not recognizing her talent. The title is taken from the Dickinson verse “This is my letter to the world/that never wrote to me.”

The photograph shows the mother of modern dance wearing a full, floor-length white dress with three-quarter length sleeves. Her torso is parallel to the floor; her left arm thrust past her hips, along the same horizontal. Graham’s right arm forms a triangle with her head; the wrist rests on her forehead, forming a right angle with the hand. The fingers of both hands curl toward the palms. Her legs are enveloped beneath the voluminous skirt. The right leg supports the dancer’s body at a near 30-degree forward angle; the left leg, kicked back and upwards above the horizontal, mimics the angle. The bodice of Graham’s dress is form-fitting. The spread of her skirt—sweeping the floor at her right foot, extending from the floor both back and upwards, above the horizontal axis of her body—creates a half-moon crescent. Folds in the cloth accentuate the arc of the dancer’s high, backwards kick. The horizontally-extended left arm and the taut neck and shoulder area suggest considerable tension throughout the dancer’s body. The intensity of her physicality dissipates as it spreads throughout the extended skirt.

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...rformance, later saying, “I conceived of two Emilys, dressed alike… Throughout the dance the Emily who spoke would witness the other Emily, myself, who danced the inner landscapes of the poetry” (BAM).

Morgan’s timeless photograph illustrates the symbiotic relationships among diverse works of art. It is the expert culmination of the creative imaginations of three great artists: Dickinson, Graham, and Morgan. Each complements the other.

While Dickinson’s talent went largely unrecognized during her lifetime, her craft was empyreally immortalized through Graham’s expert choreography and performance. Yet it is Morgan’s photography that compels deeper understanding of the intensity that first unfolded in Dickinson’s poetry. Even the spectator who lacks familiarity with Dickinson’s and Graham’s art cannot fail to experience the emotion captured by Morgan’s photograph.