tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post4703967607433916633..comments2024-03-29T00:07:13.458-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: Much Madness is divinest Sense – Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-65051987524313807212024-01-17T15:06:40.310-08:002024-01-17T15:06:40.310-08:00Horace ends Ars Poetica (19 BC) with a caricature ...Horace ends Ars Poetica (19 BC) with a caricature of the “Mad Poet”: dirty long hair, odd public behavior, lust for recognition. Some writers think mental illness creates great poets, others that it harms more than helps. In any case, many fine poets, including ED, suffered bipolar disorder. Somehow she coped and composed masterpiece poems for nearly forty years. <br /><br />This widely anthologized poem, ‘Much Madness is divinest Sense –’, proposes outer “starkest Madness” is often inner “divinest Sense”, an overworked conceit. And where’s ED’s trademark ambiguity? <br /><br />Last Lines 7-8 suggest something stung ED, set off an atypical tirade disguised as reason. Did a whiff of local gossip about the mad woman of Amherst drift her way? Did Higginson let slip a hint of prejudice about his “half-cracked poet”? Whatever it was, ED’s not telling. There’s her trademark ambiguity.<br /><br />In her manuscript, Line 5 suggested an alternative verb, “prevails” instead of “prevail”. The word “Majority”, usually singular, becomes plural: “Majority prevail”. Apparently, she faults each individual in that “Majority”, not just the singular group. Also in Line 5 she elides “always” to “all”, presumably to preserve iambic trimeter of the line.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-53834295994551134992019-01-16T08:06:00.912-08:002019-01-16T08:06:00.912-08:00Tharu youTharu youAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06986530894149419945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-43321797378689894422016-06-18T19:51:00.080-07:002016-06-18T19:51:00.080-07:00Thank you!Thank you!Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-30850194290326390032016-06-18T17:09:30.851-07:002016-06-18T17:09:30.851-07:00Superb Analysis. Although the explanation seems lo...Superb Analysis. Although the explanation seems loaded with technical terms; that are quite unknown for people like me who haven't been to literature class; yet reading your explanation of ED's poems is a real pleasure and learning.<br />ThanksAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05806563358745906344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-88644566394278520692015-12-16T18:28:47.256-08:002015-12-16T18:28:47.256-08:00I particularly like "laziness".I particularly like "laziness". Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-85916255958746578252015-12-16T17:40:17.156-08:002015-12-16T17:40:17.156-08:00One of my favorite poems. Thank you for sharing th...One of my favorite poems. Thank you for sharing the asylum's reasons for admission. Hard not to laugh maniacally now. :)Ellennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-11244426744513987892015-12-16T17:18:10.121-08:002015-12-16T17:18:10.121-08:00Thanks, Prof.!Thanks, Prof.!Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-24196398545631184962015-12-16T17:17:55.894-08:002015-12-16T17:17:55.894-08:00Great insight. I agree -- the war must figure stro...Great insight. I agree -- the war must figure strongly in her impulse here. Now I wonder what happened to the anti-war folks. Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-55914433903270107782015-12-16T12:16:29.420-08:002015-12-16T12:16:29.420-08:00Great analysis! Just discovered your blog and am ...Great analysis! Just discovered your blog and am looking forward to reading more of it.Prof. Herschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14560661473074258380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-65827179168981272362015-12-15T11:28:11.066-08:002015-12-15T11:28:11.066-08:00 Excellent analysis of both sound and sense!
... Excellent analysis of both sound and sense!<br /><br /> ED never wrote directly about the Civil War in her poetry -- but it appears in images, colors and metaphors. I think that this is a Civil War poem. The year 1863 was the height of the war. The Battle of Antietam was September 17, 1862. December 1862 to the end of 1863 saw the battles of Fredericksburg (2 battles), Chancellorsville, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Manassas, Chickamauga and Chattanooga -- just to name a few principal battles. What is starker madness, masquerading as sense, than war? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com