tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post2620561116415610095..comments2024-03-29T00:07:13.458-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: I dreaded that first Robin, so,Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-395277560231180582023-06-07T16:08:22.622-07:002023-06-07T16:08:22.622-07:00Comments by Susan K, “Talk about depression!”, and...Comments by Susan K, “Talk about depression!”, and Steve Capra, “she is utterly depressed - no, beyond depression”, are correct; at times her poems and letters are suicidal (F243, summer 1861; L261, April 25, 1862). <br /><br />In his Work Metadata for this poem, Johnson (1958) nails the reason for ED’s depression: “On 11 January 1862, the Daily News of Philadelphia reported Charles Wadsworth's call to Calvary Church in San Francisco, where he arrived on 28 May.”<br /> <br />ED, fighting depression, wasted no time lining up a replacement for Wadsworth, at least as a mentor. Despite his busy schedule, Thomas Higginson responded immediately to ED’s first letter (L260, April 15, 1862). He was a monthly essayist for The Atlantic, a retired Unitarian minister, and a soon-to-be Union Army commander of a company of freedmen. <br /><br />Later, ED told him, “You were not aware that you saved my Life” [by responding so quickly to her first letter.] (L330, 1869). <br />He stuck with her for the rest of her life and posthumously coedited the first two volumes of her collected poetry (with Mabel Todd, 1890 & 1891).<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-66162813723969065512021-08-25T14:31:50.999-07:002021-08-25T14:31:50.999-07:00The last stanza suggests to me mourning rather tha...The last stanza suggests to me mourning rather than depression. It can be hard to take others’ happiness and optimism after suffering a loss although the poet has managed to get accustomed to the robin even if it still hurts a little. Spring, however, carries on regardless and “unthinking” and she cannot help but acknowledge it. A message of comfort and optimism to the wearer of the “childish Plumes”. Robin Cooperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06335324252360372642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-54762165218470151822020-06-15T06:02:09.131-07:002020-06-15T06:02:09.131-07:00Thanks for this. I'm not sure I'm right, b...Thanks for this. I'm not sure I'm right, but at least it's a possibility. These poems are such a Rorschach Test sometimes! For example, Helen Vendler reads Dickinson's agonized, God-doubting poems as expressions of atheism, whereas I read them as the Job-like struggle of a genuine believer.Joel Marcushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09686030324605591023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-33220126064709318192020-06-13T22:56:19.994-07:002020-06-13T22:56:19.994-07:00Thanks for the Millay poem -- I absolutely see a r...Thanks for the Millay poem -- I absolutely see a resonance. When I was writing about this poem I was being very watchful for depression having read a scholar (can't remember who) who was interpreting quite a few ED poems through this lens. <br /><br />Revisiting these poems always makes me wish I hadn't been so influenced. There's almost always a much better -- deeper, more nuanced -- way of reading them. I think you have the right of it.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-56958769444964730862020-06-13T05:42:07.462-07:002020-06-13T05:42:07.462-07:00Maybe this is too optimistic, but it see the poem ...Maybe this is too optimistic, but it see the poem not as an expression of depression but of the “beauty hurts” theme. It reminded me of this stanza from Millay’s poem “God’s World,” about the beauty of autumn:<br /><br /> Long have I known a glory in it all, <br /> But never knew I this; <br /> Here such a passion is <br /> As stretcheth me apart,—Lord, I do fear <br /> Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year; <br /> My soul is all but out of me,—let fall <br /> No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.Joel Marcushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09686030324605591023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-39005077850440095772019-03-07T12:34:53.506-08:002019-03-07T12:34:53.506-08:00It seem to me that the most interesting element of...It seem to me that the most interesting element of the poem is the way ED refers her own poetry, calling it "childish", reflecting the child-like meter of the ballad form. It also seems to me that she is utterly depressed - no, beyond depression.Steve Capranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-31951611158205247422017-01-19T20:50:30.663-08:002017-01-19T20:50:30.663-08:00I see what you mean, but I don't see a way to ...I see what you mean, but I don't see a way to fit the last two stanzas in with that reading. Thanks for pointing out the 'pierce'.<br /><br />Re-reading this poem I don't know why I saw her as depressed. It seems playful and poignant to me now -- like a teacher with a new class coming in -- but more intense.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-12380439062130096052017-01-19T20:25:02.119-08:002017-01-19T20:25:02.119-08:00Could spring possibly be an extended metaphor for ...Could spring possibly be an extended metaphor for her relationship with religion? She capitalizes He and Him in a way that is reminiscent of the capitalization in biblical literature. She also uses "pierce" - the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross, "Calvary" - the hill of the crucifix, and "unthinking Drums" - which follows her rejection of the mindless followers of the church (Drums in a service also seen in I Felt a Funeral in my Brain). <br /><br />I feel that this would definitely make sense for Dickinson especially because of her historical rejection of the church and her other poems. Any insight?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-73389585257853975972017-01-04T19:54:18.587-08:002017-01-04T19:54:18.587-08:00April is the cruelest month...April is the cruelest month...Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10047678873938396282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-44173727513628902552016-11-27T10:25:12.985-08:002016-11-27T10:25:12.985-08:00Your mention of children helped me to see the poem...Your mention of children helped me to see the poem in a new light. It is a melancholy acknowledgement of birth, growth, decay, and death – and Dickinson watches the new flowers in a mood that many a parent has had watching their wee children with the knowledge that every beginning life has an end.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-40647195601487539562016-11-27T09:16:45.594-08:002016-11-27T09:16:45.594-08:00It's an unusual take on the coming of nature, ...It's an unusual take on the coming of nature, which usually makes people happy. Emily however, at least here in this poem, feels overwhelmed by nature's profusion and beauty in her singular life as a sufferer like Christ, only female, as the Queen of Calvary. I don't think she felt this way all the time. She is singular, has not brought forth life in abundance as nature does, and the contrast mangles her, in the moment of the poem at least. No children for her. I suspect this moment will pass and in other moments the coming of the spring and life will delight her. Chuck Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07020953662320904603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-80866931956576400672016-02-17T09:30:06.822-08:002016-02-17T09:30:06.822-08:00I think of this poem whenever my springtime allerg...I think of this poem whenever my springtime allergies kick in. :)Ellennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-25183898050599552672015-05-13T12:55:31.472-07:002015-05-13T12:55:31.472-07:00It reflects her confusion as to how she should vie...It reflects her confusion as to how she should view spring - as the beginning or as the beginning of the end.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-9899232820556900712015-03-05T17:16:51.150-08:002015-03-05T17:16:51.150-08:00That's an excellent way to look at it, Anonymo...That's an excellent way to look at it, Anonymous. Each element of Spring is a poem, each poem a small death . . . the plumes she waves are her poems . . . It's a viewpoint worth thinking about.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-49981678275189805872015-01-22T05:27:27.294-08:002015-01-22T05:27:27.294-08:00I hear strands of ED's relationship with her o...I hear strands of ED's relationship with her own poetry in this poem, that creation also pierces her and so vulnerable she seems here, creating almost rips her up.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com