DIVIDE LIGHT contemporizes the works of poet Emily Dickinson to link the groundbreaking ideas of the mid-19th century American Transcendental movement to innovations and global concerns in today’s rapidly changing world. Dill has been working with the language of Emily Dickinson in her visual and performative work for decades, and so it seemed natural to do an opera based on her poetry and themes. DIVIDE LIGHT examines the nature of emotion and story-telling in contemporary society through the lens of Dickinson’s 19th century philosophical poetics.