You’ve no idea how much I appreciate that tidbit. I’ve tried to memorize that poem (the house/farm I grew up on was called Locksley Hall) and this helps TREMENDOUSLY! I owe you a drink.
That also works with the Marine Song (“From the halls of Montezuma”) and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
We’ve had several threads on interchangeable lyrics and music, but I can’t find any of them now.
Here are other tunes for Dickinson’s poems:
O Little Town of Bethlehem
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Australian National Anthem (Advance, Australia Fair)
According to this post, it’s in “Adding a Dimension”: http://groups.google.com/group/sci.chem/msg/7f444c7511cb4df6
What do you mean by “cheesy” songs?
“Danny Boy” can be sung to the tune of “O Holy Night”.
“Casey at the Bat” – > “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary”.
“Green Eggs and Ham” – > “99 Luftballons”. 
It can also be sung to the tune of “O Tannenbaum” (aka O Christmas Tree). Go ahead, try it.
Not exactly a poem, but the Christmas hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem” can also be sung to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun” (courtesy of Bob Rivers).
If you can sing it to the theme song from Gilligan’s Isle, you can sing it to “House of the Rising Sun”.
Thanks, Neidhart. As a 2-time mom & G-mom, I can rebuke Sam-I-Am (Green Eggs & Ham in my sleep. Now I can sing it to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”.
Heh. I can ruin “The Council Of Elrond” to the tune of “Yellow Rose Of Texas”:
Seek for the sword that’s broken:
In Imladris it dwells;
There shall be counsels taken
Stronger than Morgul-spells.
There shall be shown a token
That Doom is near at hand,
Isildur’s bane shall waken,
And the Halfling forth shall stand.
Try getting that out of your head next time you read LotR…
This is a bit of a stretch for the conversation, but I don’t know that T.S. Elliot would’ve wanted his “Love Song” to sound anything like “Memory”
Almost all of her poems also work with the Giligan’s Island theme as well.
My chorus actually performed it this way, complete with a couple (one in drag) dancing the tango. The audience loved it.
Oh, great. Now I’ve got the “Farnesol” song (to the tune of “Jingle Bells”) stuck in my head.
I also memorized the periodic table–well, not the table itself, but the elements in order–by singing it to the tune of “English Country Garden.”
Just a week ago, a friend mentioned that, in her church that Sunday, they were going to sing Amazing Grace, not only to its own tune, but also to The House of the Rising Sun, AND Gilligan’s Island. My wife couldn’t imagine, so, with hardly a shift in mental gears, started singing Amazing Grace to Gilligan’ Island. It flows very well.
My wife screamed and made me stop.
The Gilligan’s Island/Amazing Grace/Emily Dickenson/House of the Rising Sun etc. pattern is actually a remarkably common one. For a while now, I’ve been contemplating a website where you could select any of the lyrics from one long list, and any of the tunes from another long list, and hear a synthesized/autotuned rendition of the former to the tune of the latter.
The particular pairing that I had stuck in my head for an annoyingly long time was “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” to the tune of “Stairway to Heaven”.
As well as:
Amazing Grace
Yankee Doodle
Auld Lang Syne
O Susanna
I’ve Been Working on the Railroad
America the Beautiful
House of the Rising Sun (as mentioned before)
etc. etc. etc.
There’s a reason it’s called “common meter.” 
ETA: I see Chronos covered this as I was typing. Just google “songs in common meter” or “8686 hymns” if you’re a church going type and you’ll find plenty of songs that work together.
Wow, it does fit!
I guess Zeppelin really did steal other people’s songs!
Now I’m picturing the elves dressed up like cowboys.
Outstanding. Got to do that for the grandkids