If I should die,
And you should live—
And time should gurgle on—
And morn should beam—
And noon should burn—
As it has usual done—
If Birds should build as early
And Bees as bustling go—
One might depart at option
From enterprise below!
'Tis sweet to know that stocks will stand
When we with Daisies lie—
That Commerce will continue—
And Trades as briskly fly—
It makes the parting tranquil
And keeps the soul serene—
That gentlemen so sprightly
Conduct the pleasing scene!
- F 36 (1858)
Dickinson lists all the things that, if continuing after death, should make 'the parting tranquil' and serene. She begins with scenes from the natural world: beaming morning, burning noon, nest-building birds, and bustling bees. She then makes a complete switch to the economic world, saying that if the natural world would so continue then we could take our 'option' and leave worldly 'enterprise. Stock trading will continue as will commerce.
She's being ironic, pretending that when lying with Daisies in the grave, she'd be comforted by knowing sprightly gentlemen are wheeling and dealing as usual. Yet there's a correspondence there. The stock trader bustles like the bee, merchants build their enterprises as birds do their nests.
The best verbs, however, are reserved for the natural world. Compare: gurgle, beam, burn, build, bustling; vs. stand, continue, fly (okay, that one has a bit of life), and conduct.
In a larger sense, though, the poet says 'if you are still alive and all these other things are not disrupted by my unremarkable death [and, it is implied, life], then I can go when it suits me and not worry about a thing. How lightly the poet imagines her footprint upon this life. And yet it is true of, what, 99.9 percent of us? How many ripples will mark our passing?
The poem presents a much lighter approach to death than we see in her other poems. There is no somberness, no great mystery, no ambiguous divine intent, no talk of paradise or the crossing over thereto. But since in the next 1750 poems I'll encounter plenty of that, I think, I'll take the drollery gladly.
There's a sprightly mix of complete and slant rhymes. Slant: beam / done / option. Complete: go / below; lie / fly; serene / scene.
But isn't that 9th line "One might depart at option" also a reference to taking one's own life? OPTing out? Indeed, how else could one read it? So if the speaker would do that and the you (surely someone dear) should still "live" while all these other things, including business, also continue, that continuance is a comfort to the one who opted out, who might lie with those Daisies. I think your reference to "when it suits me" implies that, though as a whole your commentary skirts the full weight of "opting" to depart.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was skirting it. It just doesn't *sound* suicidish. And perhaps I was shy ... But you are right, by logic. Plus, Dickinson didn't shy from the examination of being or not being. It's interesting in re-reading in light of your comments that the very brightness of the scenes she sketches serve by design to take the sting out of opting out in such a drastic way.
DeleteI don't read anything ominous in line 9 ...unless sarcasm is ominous. It seems to she is making a sharp contrast between the "real" world and the artificial business of commerce. She seems completely tongue-in-cheek ...(as if Emily could really care a whit whether stocks trade, if she is alive or dead, and certainly not in analogous way with nature). Sounds like a put down to me for some distracted business-obsessed person(s).
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm interested in the line "from enterprise below!" following from line 9. Does she mean the "enterprise", i.e. trades, etc., in the lines to follow, or the "enterprise" below ground" after death....or?
SJM
I wonder if "enterprise below" doesn't refer to our earthly activities. the implied "above" would be heaven or some such. But now, re-reading this poem, I'm agreeing with you: the "you" in the poem seems a specific person -- someone so busy with the world of commerce that the speaker's death would not be much of an interruption. The tone is lively and droll, though; not bitter or at all pitying.
DeleteThe use of "opted out" is probably a droll mimicry of the target's vocabulary. Of course, her family was top heavy with lawyers and commercial venturers. Her father helped bring the railroad to Amherst.
thank you, susan. your blog saved my term paper and my grade for this school year. you're a hero to students everywhere.
ReplyDeleteThere's something odd about this variation of Fr36 (1858). Franklin's 3-volume variant edition isn't on my bookshelves. Is F36 as presented the only version? ED often ended her early poems with exclamation marks, which makes me wonder if we are looking at two very different poems that somehow got combined (by mistake?):
ReplyDeletePoem 36a
If I should die,
And you should live—
And time should gurgle on—
And morn should beam—
And noon should burn—
As it has usual done—
If Birds should build as early
And Bees as bustling go—
One might depart at option
From enterprise below!
Poem 36b
'Tis sweet to know that stocks will stand
When we with Daisies lie—
That Commerce will continue—
And Trades as briskly fly—
It makes the parting tranquil
And keeps the soul serene—
That gentlemen so sprightly
Conduct the pleasing scene!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOn third thought (apologies my presumptuous replies), I think Susan K is right in her reply of 12/17/2014. I'll bet Susan D channeled an optimistic investment opinion of Austin's in a conversation with Emily, and ED responded with this tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic answer in its current one-stanza format.
ReplyDeleteIn that case, ED could have strengthened the poem by dividing it into two stanzas at the first exclamation mark. The one-stanza format slows the reader (or at least this reader), who has to mentally process the abrupt segue from the deceptive seriousness of 'departing at option' to the heavy-handed sarcasm of sprightly Wall Street stock traders conducting a "pleasing scene".
To play her hand for slow readers, she could have added a benediction stanza, "In the name of the Bee – And of the Butterfly – And of the Breeze – Amen!"
On second thought, the cheekiness of recommending ED edit a poem exceeds ridiculous.
Having now enjoyed reading several of ED's letters to her brother I find the poem has a bit of her teasing drollery. I wonder, then, if we might think of the 'you' as Austin. Not conclusively, of course.
DeleteED’s handwritten manuscript of ‘If I should die’ (F36) leaves no doubt that ED intended a single poem; there is no sign of a stanza break anywhere. The ‘you’ could very well be Austin, but the poem’s irony would be even more appreciated by Susan if she had channeled to ED some officious and overoptimistic investing opinion of her husband, Austin. ED, of course, would belittle such masculine words of wisdom, which no doubt gave both women a good laugh behind Austin’s back.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a pedantic point, but 'sarcasm' and 'irony' are often confused. Eric Partridge, in Usage and Abusage, (1942) defines irony as “stating the contrary of what is meant", often in argumentative jest (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony), which seems the point of this poem. Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm), which doesn't quite fit this case.
Sarcasm is a form of irony. It is edgier, typically.
DeleteThank you Susan. Wiki defines "edgier" as a comparative adjective that means more "tense, nervous, or irritable". I'm a tyro, so should I say the poem is "non-edgy irony"?
ReplyDelete