tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post2084411666318733602..comments2024-03-29T00:07:13.458-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: "Sic transit gloria mundi"Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-30318637076013491122024-01-12T21:57:44.347-08:002024-01-12T21:57:44.347-08:00Thank you -- all so interesting. I didn't know...Thank you -- all so interesting. I didn't know about the Tuscarora.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-34240720532715062952024-01-12T11:55:48.777-08:002024-01-12T11:55:48.777-08:00Many of the lines were well known pop culture touc...Many of the lines were well known pop culture touchstones and even cliched notions of her time. I think another theme (in addition to the obvious existential dilemma) was the nostalgic and perhaps ironic observation that what seemed important at school, what was repeated, and memorized, and emphasized by teachers, would fade in time to obscurity (Peter Parley series). Another annotated example:<br /><br />I climb the "Hill of Science,"<br />I "view the landscape o'er;"<br />Such transcendental prospect,<br />I ne'er beheld before!<br /><br />The phrase "hill of science' appeared in many commencement addresses in the 19th century, to the point of cliche. "View the landscape o'er" was a line from a religious hymn, and later appeared in sermons quite often. (Search newspapers.com) She combined the two discrete cliches and made a portmanteau of sorts, a tongue in cheek jab at the popular transcendental movement. What's old is new, or is it? How clever.<br /><br />The Tuscarora were an indigenous people who were relocated by colonials, their land stolen; doomed in time via the proverbial trail of tears. ED closes her poem with this reference, just as an entire culture fades, just as she bids farewell, to eventually sleep the graveyard sleep. From many to one. From macro to micro.<br />Fowler Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01867423536170362560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-88542082048943455182022-07-25T14:16:46.373-07:002022-07-25T14:16:46.373-07:00William Howland, who was 10 years older than ED an...William Howland, who was 10 years older than ED and a lifelong bachelor, forwarded this Valentine poem without ED’s permission to the Springfield Republican where it was published on February 20, 1852 with an introduction, probably by Samuel Bowles, that invited the poem’s “author” to send more “correspondence”. Bowles, who inherited the newspaper from his father in 1851, would not meet the then 21-year-old poet until 1858.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-1375428488068252792017-07-27T12:16:51.113-07:002017-07-27T12:16:51.113-07:00I'm impressed that this is a poem written in h...I'm impressed that this is a poem written in high spirits.... she mocks her father gently--"Unto the Legislature/my country bids me go..."; herself--"Columbus notified the nations/Where I would reside..." and bids the world farewell! Great fun!vermontaguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17358377541490066135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-61416744413847445162017-06-26T09:53:22.364-07:002017-06-26T09:53:22.364-07:00I'm sorry, gentlemen, about the "removed&...I'm sorry, gentlemen, about the "removed" sentence. I wrote this on the second day of my Emily Dickinson project and had only a few reference books. I used Google, of course, too, and subscribed to the ED Bulletin. I have tried to retrace my research steps from those six years ago and have come up short. Clearly the poem was published. As Mr. DiMattio notes, the word 'removed' is problematic. I can only guess that my source, whatever it was (for I didn't make the idea up out of whole cloth) claimed that Dickinson wanted the work removed from files or archives or somesuch -- or not reprinted.<br /><br />My apologies. Thank you Stephen for helping me keep this blog on the straight! And thank you Joe for some interesting info and thoughts!Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-5568163611510291352017-06-26T06:46:34.273-07:002017-06-26T06:46:34.273-07:00Susan:
You note that Dickinson "retracted&...Susan: <br /> <br />You note that Dickinson "retracted" this poem. Would you share your sourcing of that information? Thanks! <br />Stephen<br /> <br />Dear Stephen,<br /><br />Your question was intriguing. I followed up on it with the aid of Google search. <br /> <br />My original source was Susan Kornfeld<br /> <br />The poem "Sic transit gloria mundi," was submitted by Howland to the Springfield Republican in 1852.<br /> <br />Emily discovered it and had it removed? Not clear as to meaning.<br /> <br />What does removed mean? Is it different from retracted?<br />Removed means ‘stop publishing it and don’t do it again’ whereas retracted suggests a taking back and acknowledging an error in publishing.<br /> <br /> Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield Republican.<br /> <br />Poem 3 Valentine is the ""Sic transit gloria mundi."<br /> The more famous Valentine was published 4 or 5 years earlier in the Amherst College publication and has been attributed to ED and meant as a Valentine for George Gould, the editor.<br /> <br />Poem 3 was discussed in Johnson’s notes with an explanation that it was a Valentine by E. Dickinson:<br />One of the Monson, Massachusetts, relatives, Eudocia Converse - a first cousin of ED's mother - transcribed it into her 1848-1853 commonplace book, withi the notation "Valentine by Miss E Dickinson of Amherst." The knowledge of her authorship clearly was abroad. One word differs:<br /> <br />It was introduced in the Springfield Republican with:<br />The hand that wrote the following amusing medley to a gentleman friend of ours, as "a valentine," is capable of writing very fine things, and there is certainly no presumption in entertaining a private wish that a correspondence, more direct than this, may be established between it and the Republican.<br /> <br />It was submitted by Howland but this leaves it clearly possible that it was written by Emily for George Gould! She was 22 years old and from my estimates just when she was engaged to Gould. It was a statement of exuberance and a sign of her excitement and general happiness.<br /> <br />As I have discussed in my blogs, her father and brother, Austin, were against her wayward, extravagant behavior and against her relationship with Gould. It is very likely that they all exerted pressure on her to stop this very public behavior and had her do whatever to prevent further public outbursts.<br /> <br />It is important to note that the poem was ‘submitted’ by Howland not for him as has been reported.<br /><br />Thank You,<br />Joe DiMattioAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15801267411888421943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-77322555800600757982017-06-25T19:02:53.357-07:002017-06-25T19:02:53.357-07:00Susan:
You note that Dickinson "retracted&q...Susan: <br /><br />You note that Dickinson "retracted" this poem. Would you share your sourcing of that information? Thanks! <br /><br />Stephen<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00928512218370715913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-29820976849278779972016-08-16T17:47:30.790-07:002016-08-16T17:47:30.790-07:00Yes, well said -- I quite agree with it all. So ir...Yes, well said -- I quite agree with it all. So irrepressible.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-86998029632514105352016-08-16T12:20:43.333-07:002016-08-16T12:20:43.333-07:00The poem "Sic transit gloria mundi,"
was...The poem "Sic transit gloria mundi,"<br />was written for William Howland a Law Student in her Father’s office.<br />Note: Comedic and outrageous parody of her education full of quotable bits from all over and the idea world of historical lore, religion, Shakespeare and a mundane life of tea, orchards, moons and stars. Life, full of fun, sound and fury and death: a painted picture of absurdity and glory signifying nothing. She was 22 years old (supposedly the year of her engagement to George Gould.) One can imagine any number of reasons for her asking for it to be retracted from the Springfield Republican. Gould or Father Edward might not of approved? Too crazy for her Amherst world! See joe dimattio - unraveling Emily Dickinson. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15801267411888421943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-83220150411277999312015-07-25T18:54:55.584-07:002015-07-25T18:54:55.584-07:00love that you are doing this projectlove that you are doing this projectAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com