'Tis a trifling knowledge —
News-Boys salute the Door —
Carts — joggle by —
Morning's bold face — stares in the window —
Were but mine — the Charter of the least Fly —
Houses hunch the House
With their Brick Shoulders —
Coals — from a Rolling Load — rattle — how — near —
To the very Square — His foot is passing —
Possibly, this moment —
While I — dream — Here —
F537 (1863) J570
Mornings are busy at the Dickinson Homestead. The paper boys "salute" the door (is this a droll way of saying they throw the paper against the door just as they do today?) with the morning news, carts "joggle" by with their loads, coals rattle on and off their conveyance. Meanwhile the morning sun stares in the poet's window and neighboring houses hunch against hers as if hemming her in.
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| Coal carts being loaded for delivery |
Amid all this daily hustle and bustle our poet is dreaming of her beloved. She is dying to know where he is right now – trifling knowledge indeed since he is probably on his way to work. She is particularly frustrated because even the "least Fly" could buzz around and find him if it wanted. Alas, as a Victorian woman, she must content herself with dreams. Fortunately this quaint habit of female rectitude has long gone by the wayside.
But Dickinson often prefers to imagine and dream rather than dive into the real. She refused to see Samuel Bowles once when he came calling, despite her likely deep affection for him – and her copious output of letters and poems directed to him. She refused to marry Judge Lord despite a similar deep affection for him. In several previous poems she writes of deferring love and union until some afterlife. (Other times, she admits skepticism that such union would ever take place.) Perhaps most strikingly, she went for about thirteen years without visiting her childhood best friend, sister-in-law, and next door neighbor Sue –a dear beloved despite their fallings out and estrangements – all the while sending her notes and writing poems to and about her.
This is a delightfully vivid poem and Dickinson writes with a light touch. We have the busy-ness of carts and paperboys contrasted with the staring sun and hunching houses with their marvelous "Brick Shoulders". Is the speaker going to go out in the world or hunker down with the hunching and staring? The last line, "While I – dream – Here ¬–" is a clear indication she is going to stay home. The line is drawn out with dashes and long vowels. It is a dreamy, staying-put line, wistful but not unhappy.
The words in this poem are quintessentially Dickinson -- vivid and surprising.
ReplyDeleteBut what strikes me here is the rhythm. Dickinson has entirely abandoned the verse of poems like "We learned the Whole of Love" and many others -- where she employs an iambic, even line -- with occaisional breaks that are notable and powerful because of the consistency of the rhythm of the rest of the poem and the expectations that it sets up.
This verse is completely free, very modern. This poem takes Dickinson out of the realm of the conventional -- even for Dickinson. It is astonishing.
The jostling world is depicted with a percussion of rhythms: spondees such as Brick Should(ers), bold face, how – near, Carts – jog(gle); nestled among anapests such as "from a Roll(ing), To the ver(y), in the win(dow). And then there is the quiet phrase "His foot is passing" followed by the very slow complex sound of "Possibly, this moment". The last line in its slow dreaminess contrasts the speaker with the clashing bustle of the world.
DeleteYes, very modern. The first line tells you it's not your typical Victorian or Romantic poet. It's breathless and arch at the same time and completely fresh.
Thanks for pointing this out.
I also like the alliteration of "Houses hunch the House".
The scene depicted sounds more like a cityscape than small town Amherst. The activity, the traffic, the houses hunching brick-shouldered houses (the Homestead was on several acres of land surrounded by gardens, barns and a meadow with only the Evergreens as neighbor, and they hardly hunched near each other.) It all leads me to believe that this poem was written in Boston, not Amherst. I am speculating that it was either written in Boston, or inspired by her observations in Boston while she boarded there for medical treatment in the year associated with this poem.
ReplyDeleteThe line that reveals that there is a beloved going about his business not so far away could arouse much more speculation – about his identity. But that issue has been covered, volume upon volume of coverage, by far better historical detectives than I !
Lee Silverwood
Thanks, Lee. Thinking about your comment makes me give the poem a different reading. Dickinson's Boston stay for her eyes was in 1864, so if Franklin dates the poem correctly she had only made a brief visit there. But that would be enough! I wonder if this poem isn't written from the vantage of one of her 'imagined persons' -- in this case a lovelorn woman. Perhaps she even knew a person that recounted a time of her life like this. The poem does indeed seem to describe a Boston sort of locale.
DeleteI think she could easily be dreaming about Sam Bowles walking to work as he usually did. He was a man of the world and news was his game.
ReplyDelete“This verse is completely free, very modern. This poem takes Dickinson out of the realm of the conventional -- even for Dickinson. It is astonishing.”
ReplyDeleteShould we poetry novices infer ‘I could die — to know —’ is a unique first in the annals of free verse poetry? Or is this hyperbole?
“Morning's bold face — stares in the window —
Were but mine — the Charter of the least Fly —”
ED Lex defines “Charter” as “ legal document; bestowal of rights; granting of privileges”. The “least Fly” has the “right” and “privilege” to stare in “the window”; ED would like the same right and privilege to be a peeping-Tom, but whose window?
Amherst has a town commons of several square blocks but no “Square” in the usual urban sense. Boston has many squares and would match ED’s description well:
ReplyDelete“News-Boys salute the Door —
Carts — joggle by . . .
“Houses hunch the House
With their Brick Shoulders —
Coals — from a Rolling Load — rattle — how — near —
To the very Square”
During September 1846, ED spent a month sightseeing in Boston. Her comment about “quietly settled down” in a letter to Abiah Root matches the noisiness and busyness of Boston.
Boston, 8 September 1846 (L13 To Abiah Root)
“Father & Mother thought a journey would be of service to me & accordingly, I left for Boston week before last. I had a delightful ride in the cars & am now quietly settled down, if there can be such a state in the city.”
Dickinson returned home to Amherst after a month’s sightseeing in Boston, telling Abiah she had been “almost everywhere that you can imagine.
https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/2022/03/i-have-so-much-to-tell-emily-dickinsons-1846-visit-to-boston/#_ednref1
Thank you, Larry. She might well be thinking of that visit when writing this poem.
DeleteThe elephant in the poem is whose foot is “His foot”.
ReplyDeleteMy first guess was God or Wadsworth, both of whom rated a capital ‘H’ in ED’s poems, but the capital “His” could be simply the beginning of a sentence. We’re left guessing. We can infer from the last line that the speaker is “Here” (in Amherst?). Susan K posits the speaker as an “imagined person”, but that seems an unlikely leap.
By Franklin’s copy date of “spring 1863”, Wadsworth is long gone to California, so cross him off the list, and God is unlikely given ED’s distrust. As far as we know, which isn’t very far, her only close male acquaintances likely to be in Boston are Higginson and Bowles. The first anniversary of ED’s first letter to Higginson is April 1863, so maybe they’re still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, metaphorically speaking, and she’s thinking of him. Her habit of noting anniversaries and birthdays with letters or poems was legendary.
If Line 10, “To the very Square — His foot is passing —”, refers to Higginson, ED likely composed F537 during April - August 1862 and then copied it into Fascicle 28 in early 1863:
ReplyDelete“In August of 1862, [Higginson] enlisted as Captain in the 51st Massachusetts Infantry. . . . Colonel Higginson served until being discharged in October 1864 due to an injury he had sustained in August of 1863.”
https://digital.wpi.edu/downloads/kp78gh009?locale=en
Lines 10-12 could be interpreted as romantic infatuation, or they could just as well be interpreted as the poet dreaming of her new mentor's ability to help her improve her poetry skills. If so, the mentor wasn't up to the task.
Somehow, I doubt whether ED would be willing to die just to know what Higginson is doing. The poem sounds too romantic to be about him. My guess is that she is describing not Boston, which she's seen, but San Francisco of her imagination. There is a strong resemblance between this poem and F368 "I envy Seas, whereon He rides—."
ReplyDeleteF537: I could die — to know —/'Tis a trifling knowledge —
F368: How easy All can see/What is forbidden utterly/As Heaven—unto me!
F537: Morning's bold face — stares in the window —
F368: I envy Light—that wakes Him—
F537: Were but mine — the Charter of the least Fly —
F368: The wealthy Fly, upon His Pane—
F537: Houses hunch the House/With their Brick Shoulders —
F368: I envy Nests of Sparrows—/That dot His distant Eaves—
You're right, Anonymous 6/26/2024, the last three lines suggest romantic longing, thus Wadsworth, not Higginson or Bowles.
ReplyDelete"His foot is passing —
Possibly, this moment —
While I — dream — Here —"
ED's urban description,
"Houses hunch the House /
With their Brick Shoulders —",
sounds like Boston, but ED can be forgiven for projecting her 1846 Boston memories onto 1863 San Francisco. Your line-by-line comparison of F537 and F368 is compelling, and the earlier poem certainly seems to be about Wadsworth.