By Yu-Hung, from Taiwan, studying PhD in English 

I am now in the third year of my PhD studies. If you ask me, so far along this professional journey, what is one of the most memorable moments? My transatlantic research trip to Boston, MA and Cambridge, MA in 2023, supported by the University’s Go Abroad fund, is surely one of those.  

A life-changing journey, starting with a letter

My current doctoral project focuses on an exploration of how John Keats and Emily Dickinson facilitated nineteenth-century transatlantic literary relations, individually and collectively. 

One of the most essential fragments prompting me with such an idea is Dickinson’s mentioning of her reading of Keats in an 1862 letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson. I wanted to read this letter in person, through which I hoped that I could get a clearer picture of how Dickinson might have felt when composing the letter.   

Destination: New England, USA 

I also wanted to visit New England, the place that took a significant role in shaping Dickinson’s poetics culturally, metaphorically and geographically. I knew the letter was collected in the Boston Public Library, and I felt that other letters by Dickinson there could give me more inspiration. Once I saw the announcement for the application of the University’s Go Abroad fund, I couldn’t help seizing this opportunity to fulfil my dream.

With great honor and pleasure to be awarded this fund, I then decided to embark on this journey, the journey that I felt might change my life, and, as time proves, it does in a fruitful and enriching way.

Finding joy in Boston

Upon my arrival in Boston, I first visited the Boston Public Library. The joy I felt, which still lingers until now, when I saw Dickinson’s manuscript in person was beyond description. I then realised, at least for me, that though we are now living in a world where loads of manuscripts are digitised, the inspiration we can draw from their physical presence is irreplaceable. Only by seeing the manuscript of this particular letter by Dickinson in person can I envision the moments, the surroundings, and the emotions that might have led to her composition.   

Tracing the journeys of beloved poets

Other than my visit to the Boston Public Library, I joined a free tour hosted by Harvard’s Houghton Library. I visited the dedicated Dickinson and Keats sections there, tracing the journeys undertaken by two of my beloved poets that led me to my current stage of life.  

For the rest of my time in Boston specifically, while compiling the information I collected for my thesis, I tried to picture how Dickinson might have pictured certain locations in her time. Is the world where I am living aligned with her expectations, I wondered.  

The Go Abroad Fund helped make me who I am today

 A few final words – without the support of the Go Abroad fund, I might have never been able to start this memorable research trip at such an early phase of my career. Not only did it bring me to the place where I needed to go, professionally, but it also made me who I am, personally.

A transatlantic research trip from Edinburgh to Boston, MA & Cambridge, MA / Student Stories by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0