I gained it so —
By Climbing slow —
By Catching at the Twigs that grow
Between the Bliss — and me —
It hung so high
As well the Sky
Attempt by Strategy —
I said I gained it —
This — was all —
Look, how I clutch it
Lest it fall —
And I a Pauper go —
Unfitted by an instant's Grace
For the Contented — Beggar's face
I wore — an hour ago —
Fr639 (1863) J359
In this mystery poem, Dickinson describes how she has achieved some transcendent state but, although she clutches her gain, she has become empaupered – no longer at home in the earthly world.
Dickinson refers to what she has gained as 'Bliss'. Reading the poem I am reminded of Hinduism – specifically the concept of Brahma-nirvana: a state (according to Wikipedia 'Nirvana') of "release or liberation; the union with the Brahman. According to [Eknath] Easwaran, it is an experience of blissful egolessness." Certainly such an experience or other state of Grace or spiritual transcendence would produce profound change in an instant.
And yet …. The liberation, awareness – or bliss – of such an experience should, one expects, not need to be clutched at, no should it result in discontent. So perhaps this 'instant's Grace' was something more wordly – a moment of love, a deep insight, a brief spiritual union, or a revelation. Dickinson employs the unspecified and transendent 'It', as she does in various other poems which allows a lot of room for interpretation.
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| Hildegard von Bingen's Cosmic Egg |
But although the first stanza ends with what seems a great achievement, the second stanza has a rather bitter sadness to it. "I said I gained it", she writes, but that was all there was to it. She does not admit to any betterment or lasting gain. Rather, she draws our attention to how she clutches it. Like the merchant in Jesus' parable in "Matthew", she has found a pearl of great price and given everything she has for it. She feels herself a Pauper. As a beggar she was content; as someone with a great Pearl, she has nothing.
In the parable, the pearl of great price stands for the kingdom of heaven. Is this what Dickinson was getting at? After all the reading and walking and thinking and soul searching and venturing out onto the Circumference, did she grab a fistful of Heaven's tent and find it an empty prize? Even the rhymes in the last stanza are rather sad: all / fall; instant's Grace / Beggar's face.
This is a very visual poem, and its frequent rhymes and simple diction make it a pleasure to read aloud.
Susan, I read an ED poem each morn followed by your interpretation & comments (just started to do so this past summer). Thank you for your insightful commentaries; they push me to investigate, search & think (!)
ReplyDeleteRe clutching the pearl of great price, if we think of the bliss she clutches rather as a momentary insight or realization of the transcendent nature of life, a moment in time achieved via meditation, a moment which easily slips away only to be clutched at & achieved again & again,
for me the poem has great power & connects all of us in our daily struggles.
Peace
Thanks for the kind words! But the sort of bliss you describe would not leave one unfitted for the pre-Bliss life, would it? Except maybe for the mall or the Superbowl or something. It must be something fantastic -- a Grand Vision/Truth, a transcendence that makes regular life just seem pale and poor and hardly worth living. I've rather changed my mind about the disappointing part. I don't see it there now.
DeleteThanks for your comment!
This poem now makes me think of the Clematis vine & flower. One symbolic meaning of the flower is wisdom. Maybe wisdom & poetry to ED. I see ED climbing the wisdom/poetry Clematis vine.
ReplyDeleteI celebrate poems 1 thru 639, many thanks to you!
Thank you. I was just working on a clematis vine this morning, trimming it up. I can see it in the poem, especially with the meaning of wisdom.
ReplyDeleteAh, I love this one. From the start those little sing-song bits of iambic dimeter create such a strong rhythm, especially when you end the line in an "oh" like that. Then the heavy swing of dimeter spills out into tetrameter and we're hit again with that strong "OH".
ReplyDeleteYou feel like you are launched by the rhythm into the poem, into climbing up the meaning of the poem. (It looks like you are climbing down the poem as it is your read down the page, but it feels more like working your way up in your head.)
You start your climb with this single great thought,
I gained it so —
By Climbing slow —
Start your slow climb up the poem by slowing down, and thereby beginning to gain the poem. What does it mean to gain by slowing down your climb?
I could carry just that couplet around with me for a long while. It would make a killer tattoo. I'm talking about THAT slow. The poet is telling us here that she really worked for "It", (It being a mysterious thing beyond definition, beyond naming), worked for it patiently, and then, lo and behold, she actually got what it was she was trying attain! And therefore perhaps you can too. All of that meaning resides in just two short lines. But keep going. If you stopped there you would miss the tip of this poem altogether.
The next two lines tell you how best to climb,
By Catching at the Twigs that grow
Between the Bliss — and me —
What is it that is stopping you from noticing the grace and beauty all around you? My brother once made up a good name for these kinds of twigs. He calls them bliss-blockers. What is blocking you from bliss? What is it, specifically? These lines too you can meditate on for a thousand years. But you still have a ways to go yet up the poem. Go slow. Go blissfully.
It hung so high
(you might) as well the Sky
Attempt by Strategy —
Hmm, what does Emily mean by this? "It" (something so high, like a heaven of some sort) is so difficult to attain that it is beyond strategy. Though we have, at least, the strategy of climbing slow, mere strategy is not enough. For me strategy means plotting and planning. Strategizing is not the right strategy the poem seems to say. So in this first stanza there we have the idea of climbing up slowly up the tree, but without planning ahead. That's the way we read the poem too. (With our eyes closed as you've mentioned here before.) But keep climbing. Don't get too caught up in all of these twigs. The poem's not finished yet.
I said I gained it —
This — was all —
Because just when you think perhaps you have gained the meaning of the poem, there is a stanza break. After the stanza break we are reminded that we began the achievement in this poem already in the past tense. You are made to realize that to have gained something is not the same as still having the thing. It's something, yes, but it is also all there WAS.
Look, how I clutch it
Lest it fall —
The "Look" here, switching up the iambic flow, is strong here. LOOK! at how we clutch at that fruit we climbed so hard to reach. The thing we clutch could mean so many things and is open to your own definitions of Grace, Love, Heaven, etc. Perhaps it just means meaning itself, the one at the top of the poem tree we thought we were gaining.
And I a Pauper go —
Unfitted by an instant's Grace
For the Contented — Beggar's face
I wore — an hour ago —
What a turn around. Suddenly, having reached so diligently and strenuously for such seemingly unattainable fruit and, lo and behold, gotten it! we are now more poor than we were before, back when we were the beggar that first climbing for the fruit in the first place. The irony is thick. Why should we have ever climbed then at all? At this point, do we just let go and..fall?
The poem we have worked so hard to climb sits there, like a sphinx, daring us to let go of it and turn the page.
This is wonderful, d scribe. You've really brought this poem's power to life for me. I called it a 'mystery poem' but your commentary show it to be a true wisdom poem. Yet, as you suggest at the end, the wisdom is clothed - clouded - in 'thick irony'. But "I gained it so / by Climbing slow" will stick with me.
Delete
ReplyDeleteIt's worth noticing the unique meter and rhyme scheme of this poem. ED invented fantastic little machines of verse that are just right for getting her meanings across.
2 A
2 A
4 A
3 C
2 D
2 D
3 C
2 E
2 F
2 E
2 F
3 A
4 G
4 G
3 A
d scribe does it deep, to borrow a bumper sticker.
ReplyDeleteMy take on ED's poem and d scribe's jewel:
I achieved my dream —
By little steps —
By using nuance in the notes
Between Wadsworth — and me —
He was so high
I might as well reach for the sky
By clever strategy —
I thought I gained his love —
But a memory — was all I got —
Look, how I clutch it
Lest the dream die —
And I a pauper go —
Unfitted by an instant's Grace
For the Contented — Beggar's face
I wore — an hour ago —