Great poets may be investigated from many points of view. For Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), some have noticed that her work employs particular terms from mathematics. Including a much-quoted line -- "My business is circumference" -- in a letter to Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Dickinson is said to have used the word "circumference" in six letters and seventeen poems. For example, the word appears in both of the poems offered below:
When Bells stop ringing—Church—begins
The Positive—of Bells—
When Cogs—stop—that's Circumference—
The Ultimate—of Wheels.
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