tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post4564281530269901055..comments2024-03-29T00:07:13.458-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: Adrift! A little boat adrift!Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-70215049326314060982022-08-21T15:37:55.386-07:002022-08-21T15:37:55.386-07:00Both sailing poems express optimism about the poet...Both sailing poems express optimism about the poet’s future. In March 1853 ED sent Susan the naively optimistic poem ‘On this wondrous sea’ (F3). Both women were 22 and ED hoped that they might spend their lives together in a “calm harbor in the west” (see comments on F4, ‘I have a little bird in spring’). Given the evidence of the “wrenching” letter of September 1854 (H L17, ‘Sue -- You can go or stay’) and painfully hopeful poem included in the letter (‘I have a little bird in spring’, F4), the late March, 1853, news of Susan's engagement to Austin must have shattered ED. As far as we know, she wrote no poetry in 1855, 1856, or 1857.<br /><br />In 1858, after four years of healing and Susan’s 1856 marriage to Austin, ED comes back strong. In two realistically optimistic poems she announces her self-confidence that she will join the small host of immortal poets (‘Adrift! A little boat adrift!’, F6, summer 1858):<br /><br />“So angels say -- on yesterday --<br />Just as the dawn was red<br />One little boat -- o'erspent with gales --<br />Retrimmed its masts -- redecked its sails --<br />And shot -- exultant on!”<br /><br /> and triumphantly announces to the world that she will love Susan “forevermore” (‘Two sisters have I’, F5, late 1858):<br /><br />“I spilt the dew --<br />But took the morn --<br />I chose this single star<br />From out the wide night's numbers --<br />Sue - forevermore!<br />Larry Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-47810557165171661102022-07-29T11:38:37.016-07:002022-07-29T11:38:37.016-07:00ED left two early sailing poems, On this wondrous ...ED left two early sailing poems, On this wondrous sea (F3.1853) and A little boat adrift (F6.1858), both set in small boats battling storms, one sailed by a pilot ferrying a passenger, the other pilotless and adrift with a passenger who fortunately knows how to retrim masts and redeck sails. The storm obscures the little boat, but two groups of witnesses describe its fate as best they can. <br /><br />The first, seasoned sailors, swears the boat surrendered to the storm’s strife at sunset and sank. The second, a host from heaven, say the boat survived the storm and, just as red dawn broke, retrimmed its masts, redecked its sails, and shot exultant on.<br /><br />We jury members must judge which we believe, veterans of stormy seas or angels who watched from a higher place. As this is not a court of law, I vote both say the truth. By standards of her day, the passenger, a poet, succumbs to strife, sinks gurgling down and down. She’s 27, unmarried, has no paying work, cannot sew, grows flowers instead of food, and sits stuck in spinsterhood scribbling unpublished poetry that no one understands. Some say she’s mad, hiding at home, wearing white every day.<br /><br />But she and angels set standards different than those her peers espoused; she carefully considered the ways of her world and took a different road. Certain that someday her poetry would gather crowds of spectators, she trimmed her mast, redecked her sails, and shot exultant on.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-90738946775852267132022-01-20T21:15:07.729-08:002022-01-20T21:15:07.729-08:00.
.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-92038648405836506382020-07-17T07:16:14.017-07:002020-07-17T07:16:14.017-07:00Beautifully expressed. I displayed a copy of this...Beautifully expressed. I displayed a copy of this at my brothers funeral because I felt it was so fitting, and described his new journey escorted by angels. Thank you so much.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03056527842206520025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-10216528839585631362019-04-13T18:04:29.161-07:002019-04-13T18:04:29.161-07:00Yes, I agree. You said it much more clearly than I...Yes, I agree. You said it much more clearly than I did -- thanks!<br />Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-5266560546722716242019-04-13T16:01:54.883-07:002019-04-13T16:01:54.883-07:00The answer to the contradiction is that Emily is c...The answer to the contradiction is that Emily is contrasting different views of the soul. Humans, the 'Sailors' who share our 'voyage' through physical life, see only the demise of the body and the death / loss of the human being at the end of his/her life, the dusk. The angel see the liberation of the soul, the dawn of a new stage of life, and the continuation of the being on the seas of a different planeMichael Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08735009654411464011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-60032322714180535592018-01-23T02:48:45.464-08:002018-01-23T02:48:45.464-08:00I found this poem both conventional and hopeful. W...I found this poem both conventional and hopeful. What ‘people say’ if taken seriously is often a problem. <br /><br />I appreciate your blog and all comments!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14339957833418131602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-23771610994898880842015-12-17T09:35:42.056-08:002015-12-17T09:35:42.056-08:00That makes sense. Yet it is confusing to me in the...That makes sense. Yet it is confusing to me in the poem that at yesterday's dusk the boat foundered, according to sailors; yet at yesterday's dawn, the boat righted itself and sped on, according to angels. It would seem the righting and speeding on would be the subsequent morning -- unless there are two boats and this is a comparison. One boat gives up and sinks; the other lives through the night and exultantly survives by taking action agains calamity. <br /><br />I'm just now thinking of this, as I haven't revisited this poem until your thoughtful comments. Thanks! Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-81737700593918629512015-12-17T06:23:08.142-08:002015-12-17T06:23:08.142-08:00I think another read is that it's not two comp...I think another read is that it's not two competing versions of what happened. In the morning, the sailors set out, exultant, ready to weather the storm, but they were worn out by dusk and lost the battle with the gale. If death is to be read into the poem, so should life. The day is the life, the struggle. When angels tell the story of the boat, they are optimistic and only see the beauty of the good fight to live early in life. When the sailors tell the story, they focus on the negative, forgetting their strength and exultation earlier in their life. It's all the same day. Is one life, and the angels rejoice about living while the sailors get fixated on dying.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com