tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post1150001212788076512..comments2024-03-29T06:02:33.720-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: I reckon — When I count at all —Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-43520928646577125472023-11-11T18:22:29.346-08:002023-11-11T18:22:29.346-08:00Made me laugh
Made me laugh<br />Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-69993292797668023542023-11-10T17:30:32.545-08:002023-11-10T17:30:32.545-08:00Susan, D'accord, D'accord, D'accord. Y...Susan, D'accord, D'accord, D'accord. You nailed this poem. <br /><br />“I reckon — When I count at all —” <br /><br />I don’t fret much about the order of important things, but when I do . . . .<br /><br />“Their, They, they, Them” all refer to Line 8 “Poets”. Line 14 “Those” refers to us Dickinson groupies. <br /><br />Dreaming about a “Further Heaven” ain’t worth the price of admission.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-41826947254876725322023-11-10T17:15:51.529-08:002023-11-10T17:15:51.529-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-28309358472775957982021-01-30T13:56:37.167-08:002021-01-30T13:56:37.167-08:00Just this year (January 2021) I rediscovered Dicki...Just this year (January 2021) I rediscovered Dickinson while watching the new series Dickinson on AppleTV. Very well done with humor and insight into her struggles not only with her own family but with religion and dealing with being published and fame. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12135819954884009591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-52202604398619746822015-05-12T05:36:37.927-07:002015-05-12T05:36:37.927-07:00But she cannot, ultimately, stand in the sun. Her ...But she cannot, ultimately, stand in the sun. Her ambition is too great and while alive she holds herself in the shadows.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-27221081967618109752015-05-12T05:33:37.540-07:002015-05-12T05:33:37.540-07:00Maybe this is the expression of a secluded and fri...Maybe this is the expression of a secluded and frightened little girl cum woman who, as a brilliant poetical mind, longs simply to be recognized and can speak eloquently for all the secreted hearts that would love to be seen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-9247313162597189362014-05-03T10:39:06.327-07:002014-05-03T10:39:06.327-07:00okay - makes perfect sense now -- and is along the...okay - makes perfect sense now -- and is along the lines of my own thoughts. I can't vouch for Vendler. It's a subtle stanza.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-50177477331460369792014-05-03T05:28:54.854-07:002014-05-03T05:28:54.854-07:00The poets "Comprehend the Whole". So, t... The poets "Comprehend the Whole". So, the poets are the gods of the different religions. Blake and Rumi and the poetry of the Psalms, etc. Just a thought. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-67362220473449926152014-05-02T19:17:37.605-07:002014-05-02T19:17:37.605-07:00Although I see what you mean in looking at the gra...Although I see what you mean in looking at the grammar through a different lens, I can't help but fall back on Occam's Razor: it just seems more straightforward to read the set up as, "When I bother to think about it, I come up with .....". That alleviates working over the "at".<br /> I hadn't thought of your interpretation of the fourth stanza -- interesting. Thanks!Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-77115885541997057732014-05-02T19:11:08.749-07:002014-05-02T19:11:08.749-07:00I hadn't thought of the "They" in st...I hadn't thought of the "They" in stanza four as being the various gods, but it makes sense. And I like it.<br /> I wanted to mention F239, "You're right – 'The way is narrow'", but never did work it in. In that poem she tackles the verses in Matthew that talk about how few will make it to Heaven. <br /><br />I'm not clear on how you are parsing the pronouns in stanza 4, specifically how both "Those" and "Them" are referring to poets, but then the "Them" is a reference to religions. Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-50131410602541465242014-05-02T15:21:26.028-07:002014-05-02T15:21:26.028-07:00I agree with Helen Vendler's interpretation of...I agree with Helen Vendler's interpretation of "Them," though I haven't read her commentary yet--and I can see how "Them" could refer to the entire list together or something else. I also see some of the references to Shakespeare's sonnets. One internal ED reference to Shakespeare is "needless Show -" ED has been known to have written, "Why is any other book needed." "First," then could stand as a nick-name for Shakespeare, as he could potentially be seen as the first or poet par excellence. <br /><br />I also think there is another way of reading the poem or considering the list. She writes "When I count at all -" and not "When I count it all -," indicating perhaps that she not only reckons or tries to fit each piece to the whole or complete existence, but that she individually reckons or counts "at"--(a bit condescendingly--if you read it that way) each individual thing. In this vein, she can be seen weighing each individual item. In addition, grammatically, it makes more sense to then read the preposition "at" indicating the start of the items of her list. If one reads the stanza this way, then "First" needs to be accorded item status as a noun and not a preposition. Also, she's then counting what makes the "first" whole, and "poets" whole; once she's done with these two does she make time for the sun, then summer, and last and least of all "Heaven of God."<br /><br />Logically, I see the last stanza being read either way: a heretical dismissal of the potential of the afterlife--for poetry or otherwise--or a subtle realization that counting "it" all (the dream of coming to terms or reckoning all) is not possible, if one worships them (First, poets, sun for nature, life on earth as summer, and the unknown). I go back and forth. I think I'm tilting a bit to the latter now. Zefirinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05826052577521342639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-30228317433674817992014-05-01T11:48:43.435-07:002014-05-01T11:48:43.435-07:00Dickinson's family's Christianity was a Ca... Dickinson's family's Christianity was a Calvinistic revivalist Christianity. Amherst College was founded by Dickinson's grandfather, in part, as a response and reaction to the liberal Unitarianism of Harvard.<br /><br /> In the last lines of this poem, I believe Dickinson would have been thinking of one of the key scriptures for evangelical Christians, Romans 3:23 and 3:24. In Romans 3:23, the baseline state of humanity is laid out: "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". In Romans 3:24, salvation is promised: "being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is Christ Jesus." Grace in the Gospel of John, which tends to be the focus for evangelical Christians, is allowed -- critics would say earned -- by faith or belief. <br /><br /> I will have to read the Vendler essay again. I agree that Dickinson is heretical in this poem and I see the reading of "Those" and "Them referring to poets. This maintains consistency in the poem with the use of "Their" and "They" in the third stanza. In both the third and fourth stanzas she is emphasizing imagination over material reality. In the fourth stanza, the use of "They and "Them" is also an expansive and, I think, very funny reference to all religions. "They" is all the many gods who prepare heavens for "Those" who worship "Them". Grace in Dickinson's view is "difficult" -- the "dream" of heaven in the imagination is so vast that she does not accept faith ("Faith is a fine invention") as an instrument that will allow grace to be "justified freely". <br /><br />That is the best I can do with a difficult and provocative last stanza. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com