is the Common Day
That arise and set about Us—
Other Tragedy
Perish in the Recitation—
This—the best enact
When the Audience is scattered
And the Boxes shut—
“Hamlet” to Himself were Hamlet—
Had not Shakespeare wrote—
Though the “Romeo” left no Record
Of his Juliet,
It were infinite enacted
In the Human Heart—
Only Theatre recorded
Owner cannot shut—
-FR776, J741, Fascicle 37, 1863
Drama! Dickinson’s life, for all of her supposed reclusivity, was full of it. Just look at the love triangle with her brother and Sue Gilbert, or the purported relationship she had with the famous married Pastor, Charles Wadsworth.
Drama’s Vitallest Expression
is the Common Day
That arise and set about Us—
You don’t have to go to the theater for high drama. It is “Common” and part of everyday life. And, besides, it is more “Vital” than the drama in the theaters. It lives in us more than drama in the theater because it is our life.
I like the line, "That arise and set about us.” Where does this Drama come from? It arises. And then, rather sinisterly, it sets about us. It comes from seemingly nowhere, and then traps us in.
Other Tragedy
Perish in the Recitation—
Tragedies for the stage perish as soon as they are recited. But ours go on and on. You can see this thought extended from the poems preceding this one in the fascicle. In FR775, the poem directly before this one, there is the idea that our suspense (our worries and fears) never “Perish” as long as we are alive, but keep being born anew. We see Dickinson turning that word, “Perish,” over in her mind again here. Our suspense doesn’t perish in life, nor does our Drama. The actors get to take off their stage make up. We don’t. There is also a correlation between suspense and drama in these two poems too. Both of them are aspects of good theater.
This—the best enact
I love that word “best” there. What does Dickinson mean by best? Best…actors, because it's real? Best… people, because the best of us still have to deal with drama? Or maybe even, the best people are those with drama in their lives? I think there is something to this for Dickinson. I think back to FR706, when Dickinson speaks of that “white sustenance/ Despair.” Dickinson seems to esteem the drama of life, as something that sustains, even as she despairs of it. It’s the paradox of her art.
When the Audience is scattered
And the Boxes shut—
Those words “scattered” and “shut” give an interesting counterpoint to each other. The audience is scattered, but we are left with our drama. The boxes are shut, but our drama is open ended.
“Hamlet” to Himself were Hamlet—
Had not Shakespeare wrote—
As I was reading the last two poems before this one in fascicle 37 I was reminded of Hamlet, and I even mentioned him in the commentary to FR774. There was just something about the dire quality of the diction in both poems that felt to me akin to the mind of Hamlet. So it was a shock of recognition to see him mentioned in this poem. It makes me wonder if Dickinson was reading the play around this time.
Shakespeare may have captured something with Hamlet, but the tragedy of Hamlet would live in us regardless of Shakespeare’s play. I appreciate the move of putting the quotes around the first “Hamlet" in this line, but not the second. It takes the referent from literature, in quotes, to real life, without quotes. It’s a subtle example of form mirroring content.
Though the “Romeo” left no Record
Of his Juliet,
It were infinite enacted
In the Human Heart—
Again with the quotes followed by no quotes.
To feel the terror of this poem, one has to remember the depth of tragedy evoked in Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. Dickinson is not being arch here I don’t think. She is talking about the most heart-wrenching grief being, in actuality, a part of each of us.
I sometimes wonder why Dickinson didn’t write plays herself, but this poem gives you a sense of why. Her poetry is a kind of drama, after all, a soliloquy that mirrors real life and goes on and on, “infinite enacted.”
The idea of a drama being “infinite enacted” echoes the previous poem in the fascicle, FR775, which speaks of the “immortality” of suspense in our lives. The word “infinite” here does a lot of work. It gives us a sense of infinite pain, of an infinite amount of time, and of an infinite number of people. The Heart is made for infinite pain.
There is an alternate word for “infinite” in the fascicle, which is “tenderer.” While “infinite” is a strong word choice, I think “tenderer” is even stronger. It gives us the double sense of the heart being both sympathetic and fragile. It both sweetens and deepens the sense of pain at the same time. But perhaps this is one of those times when it is helpful to have both words, which gives us the sense that to be human is to be infinitely tender. Dickinson's alternate words may be read as part of the poem. Perhaps she even wanted us to see them that way.
Only Theatre recorded
Owner cannot shut—
It’s unusual for Dickinson to repeat words in a poem, but in this one she does it twice. “Record” and “shut.” Dickinson, like Shakespeare, is recording her pain, but what she is recording in her Theatre, is the ongoingness of the drama, which can't be shut. It just keeps going on and on, like a broken record.
And the owner of this theater? Our self.
My 14 year old daughter just came home from school. I asked her if there was any drama in school. She said, “Always.” I said, “Really, always?” She said, “Yeah, that’s why I stopped watching Gossip Girl. There’s enough drama in real life.” Perfect timing.
-/)dam Wade l)eGraff
Notes:
1. This poem is trochaic in meter rather than the normal iambic. Dickinson uses this move often, and usually to give a sense of…drama. Drama itself is a trochee, and the word, this poem makes us realize, carries its own sense of drama. DRA!ma. If Dickinson is going to begin her poem with this sense of drama, then it makes sense that she would carry the inverted iambic meter throughout the rest of the poem.
2. The way Christanne Miller lays out this poem in “Emily Dickinson’s Poems as She Preserved Them” is with the first two lines as one. I’m sure Miller made this decision because the “is” is not capitalized in the fascicle. But if you look at the MS of the poem, you can see that the line is broken up after “Expression.” It makes more sense to me to lay it out the way I have done here because it fits Dickinson's typical 4/3 hymn meter. It seems a stretch to have a Dickinson poem start with a line of heptameter. It’s a judgement call. I love these little moments of confusion in trying to translate Dickinson’s handwriting into print. I like the weirdness of the long line, personally, but this layout makes more sense to me.
3. Dickinson wrote in a letter to Joseph Lymon, "Going home I flew to the shelves and devoured the luscious passages. I thought I should tear the leaves out as I turned them. Then I settled down to a willingness for all the rest to go but William Shakespeare. Why need we Joseph read anything else but him?"
I sometimes wonder why Dickinson didn’t write plays herself, but this poem gives you a sense of why. Her poetry is a kind of drama, after all, a soliloquy that mirrors real life and goes on and on, “infinite enacted.”
The idea of a drama being “infinite enacted” echoes the previous poem in the fascicle, FR775, which speaks of the “immortality” of suspense in our lives. The word “infinite” here does a lot of work. It gives us a sense of infinite pain, of an infinite amount of time, and of an infinite number of people. The Heart is made for infinite pain.
There is an alternate word for “infinite” in the fascicle, which is “tenderer.” While “infinite” is a strong word choice, I think “tenderer” is even stronger. It gives us the double sense of the heart being both sympathetic and fragile. It both sweetens and deepens the sense of pain at the same time. But perhaps this is one of those times when it is helpful to have both words, which gives us the sense that to be human is to be infinitely tender. Dickinson's alternate words may be read as part of the poem. Perhaps she even wanted us to see them that way.
Only Theatre recorded
Owner cannot shut—
It’s unusual for Dickinson to repeat words in a poem, but in this one she does it twice. “Record” and “shut.” Dickinson, like Shakespeare, is recording her pain, but what she is recording in her Theatre, is the ongoingness of the drama, which can't be shut. It just keeps going on and on, like a broken record.
And the owner of this theater? Our self.
My 14 year old daughter just came home from school. I asked her if there was any drama in school. She said, “Always.” I said, “Really, always?” She said, “Yeah, that’s why I stopped watching Gossip Girl. There’s enough drama in real life.” Perfect timing.
-/)dam Wade l)eGraff
Notes:
1. This poem is trochaic in meter rather than the normal iambic. Dickinson uses this move often, and usually to give a sense of…drama. Drama itself is a trochee, and the word, this poem makes us realize, carries its own sense of drama. DRA!ma. If Dickinson is going to begin her poem with this sense of drama, then it makes sense that she would carry the inverted iambic meter throughout the rest of the poem.
2. The way Christanne Miller lays out this poem in “Emily Dickinson’s Poems as She Preserved Them” is with the first two lines as one. I’m sure Miller made this decision because the “is” is not capitalized in the fascicle. But if you look at the MS of the poem, you can see that the line is broken up after “Expression.” It makes more sense to me to lay it out the way I have done here because it fits Dickinson's typical 4/3 hymn meter. It seems a stretch to have a Dickinson poem start with a line of heptameter. It’s a judgement call. I love these little moments of confusion in trying to translate Dickinson’s handwriting into print. I like the weirdness of the long line, personally, but this layout makes more sense to me.
3. Dickinson wrote in a letter to Joseph Lymon, "Going home I flew to the shelves and devoured the luscious passages. I thought I should tear the leaves out as I turned them. Then I settled down to a willingness for all the rest to go but William Shakespeare. Why need we Joseph read anything else but him?"
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