Emily Dickinson’s Wind Harp

A rectangular stringed harp, the size of a computer keyboard. There is a floral design carved beneath the strings.

John Graves, Wind Harp, 1853, wooden musical instrument, 20 x 4.88 x 3.38 in., Emily Dickinson Museum entry

A rectangular stringed harp, the size of a computer keyboard. There is a floral design carved beneath the strings.

John Graves, Wind Harp, 1853, wooden musical instrument, 20 x 4.88 x 3.38 in., Emily Dickinson Museum. Photo by the author.

Emily Dickinson’s Wind Harp: A Description and Overview

Emily Dickinson’s wind harp, otherwise known as an Aeolian harp, is a stringed instrument structured to be played by the wind. The Aeolian harp is a unique form of the harp instrument, as it is a hollow box with, on average, four to ten strings each attached to their own tuning peg. Its shape mimics that of a zither, but the instrument differs in that it is not meant to be played by human hands. Dickinson’s wind harp is similarly hollow and has a six-petaled flower carved centered beneath the six strings. Its dimensions measure to be 20 inches in length, four and seven-eighth inches in width, and three and three-eighth inches in height. Small nails line the short edge of the harp’s wood. The original pegs and harp are crafted from walnut wood, and while the original strings of the harp were assumed to be crafted from some type of specialized thread, they could not be salvaged and were replaced with plastic strings that can no longer be manipulated by the wind. The harp is light in weight and could easily be held with two hands. It contains some small stains on the underside of the wood, though otherwise remains in prime condition since its creation in 1853 and restoration in 2009. 

The first of two records of Emily Dickinson’s harp is a letter dated April 12, 1853, in which Dickinson writes, “Cousin John has made us an Aeolian Harp, which plays beautifully, alone, whenever there is a breeze.”1 This letter provides context on the creation of the harp, and though we cannot pinpoint if the harp was gifted on April 12, we can confidently know that the creator of the instrument was Emily Dickinson’s cousin, John Graves. The second record of the harp is found in another one of Emily Dickinson’s letters, dated sometime later in the year of 1853, which reads, “In memory of Aeolus. Cousin John—, I made these little Wristlets. Please wear them for me. Perhaps they will keep you warm…”2 “Aeolus” is a direct reference to the wind harp. The exact date of the letter is not given; we can infer, however, that Emily had by this time become familiarized and spent time with the harp for several months and even sent a thank you gift to her cousin in response to his gift of the harp. 

The significance of the harp to Emily Dickinson can be seen in aspects of her social life. Historical records show that Dickinson often indulged in private musical performances on her piano to friends, family, and her cousin John Graves.3 Her interest and taste in music were well observed by John Graves, showing that the wind harp signified a shared musical understanding and interest between the two. Additionally, the wind harp stayed within the Dickinsons’ Homestead and the neighboring Evergreens well after Dickinson’s death, indicating that she held onto the harp for the remainder of her life. Minimal staining on the wood and lack of warping also show that the harp was well cared for and largely protected against the weather during the time that Dickinson was alive. While mentions of the harp within her letters beyond the two previously listed have yet to be identified, the fact of the harp remaining within the Homestead alongside its well-maintained state indicate an affection for the instrument that represented personal interests and a deep friendship between kin. 

The Aeolian Harp and Weather

While we do not have an extensive amount of information on Dickinson’s personal use and interest in the harp, we can gather how she interacted with the instrument based on customary practice during the nineteenth century. Larger harps, often comprising over eight strings, were often placed outside in areas such as gardens or porches and were directly exposed to the wind. Smaller harps such as Dickinson’s were often placed near or on the windowsill of an open window where they would be exposed to indirect breezes rather than varying and possibly harsh wind. Due to the tension, craftsmanship, and varying thickness of the strings, the harp would have been incredibly sensitive to the softest of breezes and could have been a constant source of music depending on its placement and exposure to a wind source. Because of this, the Aeolian harp may be seen as a convergence of music and weather.4 It is a string instrument, but relies on the presence and force of wind to create sound. It is not meant to be plucked by human hands as a conventional harp is, and neither is it meant to be manipulated by human breath the way flutes or other “wind” instruments may be. While many instruments may serve as a form of active music production, the Aeolian harp is unique in that it serves more as a form of passive music production and is not meant to be controlled by a human musician.

Historical Significance 

The lack of ability to control the sound of an Aeolian harp was the key aspect that popularized the harp in America during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The Aeolian harp originated in Europe, and European versions often, though not always, tended to be larger than their American counterparts. Its name comes from the minor Greek god Aeolus, who was known as the keeper of the four winds, and is a direct reference to the instrument being associated with the wind. Interest in the harp within the United States increased during the Romantic Period (late eighteenth to nineteenth centuries), a movement in literature and the arts focused on emotion and nature. In the eyes of many Romantics, the Aeolian harp represented the prime and purest form of instruments in that it was a direct representation of nature and did not allow for human intervention. If the weather was clear and fair, the harp would represent this with soft tunes. If the weather was stormy or windy, the harp would represent this with sharper tones and screeches. If there was any presence of wind at all, the harp would sound due to its extreme sensitivity. Popular poets and Romantics of the time such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, both of whom were critical to spreading and depicting the values of Romanticism, included the wind harp and its sounds within their essays and poetry.5 They analyzed and interpreted the noise of the harp, often as violent and gloomy, and in this way increased the popularity of the instrument throughout the United States while simultaneously spreading the narrative of the harp being an honest depiction of nature and weather. 

Given the popularity and proximity of these authors, it is entirely possible that Emily Dickinson was familiar with their writing about the wind harp. This may have further encouraged her desire to interact with the harp, or an interest for her to continuously care for the instrument even when it played a passive role in her life. By the end of the nineteenth century, as the Romantic period was pushed into history and the presence of the great trees used to craft the harp also began to dwindle, the wind harp became less and less popular within the United States. Today, true, functional Aeolian harps are significantly less present within society; they can still be found, however, and are made by specialized craftspeople throughout the world. 

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the staff of the Emily Dickinson Museum for supporting my research!

Footnotes

  1.  Emily Dickinson to TK, April 12, 1853, in Cristanne Miller and Domhnall Mitchell, eds., The Letters of Emily Dickinson (Harvard University Press, 2024), TK. ↩︎
  2. Emily Dickinson to TK, 1853, in Miller and Mitchell, Letters, TK. ↩︎
  3. George Boziwick, Emily Dickinson’s Music Book and the Musical Life of an American Poet (University of Massachusetts Press, 2022), 84–93. ↩︎
  4. Thomas L. Hankins and Robert J. Silverman, “The Aeolian Harp and the Romantic Quest of Nature,” in Instruments and the Imagination (Princeton University Press, 1995), 86–112. ↩︎
  5. Martin Bidney, “The Aeolian Harp Reconsidered: Music of Unfulfilled Longing in Tjutchev, Mörike, Thoreau, and Others,” Comparative Literature Studies 22 (3): 329–343. ↩︎