tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post4850699068116523081..comments2024-03-28T14:04:54.557-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: Again – his voice is at the door –Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-59775712130137761032023-07-03T17:58:58.898-07:002023-07-03T17:58:58.898-07:00“Again – his voice is at the door –”. (Franklin da...“Again – his voice is at the door –”. (Franklin date "early 1862")<br /><br />During the three months since my comment of April 1, ED's "when-she-says-it-she-means-it" style has firmed for me. Now, that first line boosts my burgeoning belief that Wadsworth made two visits to Amherst, in 1860 and 1861, before departing for San Francisco on June 1, 1862, as Whicher suggests (1938, That was a Poet, p. 105).Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-8559212658369399602023-04-01T09:16:09.498-07:002023-04-01T09:16:09.498-07:00On Saturday, March 10, 1855, ED and Vinnie arrived...On Saturday, March 10, 1855, ED and Vinnie arrived in Philadelphia after their visit to Washington, DC, with their father. They checked into the Willards Hotel, probably for one night, and then he left them with their friend and second cousin, Eliza Coleman and returned to Amherst. They stayed with Eliza for two more Sundays, the 18th and 25th. On one of those Sundays, probably March 18, Eliza took them to Arch Street Presbyterian Church to hear the famous Rev Charles Wadsworth preach. One sermon was all it took, ED fell head-over-heels in “love”. After preaching, Wadsworth’s habit was to sit bowed at his pulpit, lost in thought; she probably did not meet him personally after the service.<br /><br />In 1858 ED began correspondence with Wadsworth by asking him for counsel concerning her mother's illness. She had been sent a copy of one of his sermons earlier in the year (by Eliza Coleman). She continued corresponding with him, and he visited her twice at her home in Amherst, in March 1860 and March 1880. <br /><br />Habegger (2001, My Wars Are Laid Away in Books) provides compelling evidence, and I agree, that Wadsworth, 16 years her senior, was the recipient of the three Master Letters, which Franklin dated “about 1858”, “about 1861”, and “early 1862”. There’s one surviving letter from Wadsworth to ED, probably dated soon after he received her alarming ML1. In his letter he misspelled her last name and expressed sincere pastoral concern about her health, probably based on the tone of ML1.<br /><br />I believe that this poem, “Again – his voice is at the door –”, recalls that 1860 visit. The first word in the poem, “Again”, refers to the first time she heard his voice, in 1855. As far as we know, he had not visited her previously.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-22800178928828418572023-03-31T11:57:20.011-07:002023-03-31T11:57:20.011-07:00LINE 1: “Again – his voice is at the door –”
“Wad...LINE 1: “Again – his voice is at the door –”<br /><br />“Wadsworth’s deep bass tones, ….., produced an unforgettable effect.” (Habegger 2001), <br /><br />LINE 8: “I might surprise his eye!”<br /><br />ED considered replacing “surprise” with “not please”, which suggests that she wanted to please her visitor.<br /><br />LINE 10: “I – silent – pass the door –” <br /><br />ED considered replacing “silent” with “speechless”, but didn’t.<br /><br />LINE 13: “We talk in careless – and in toss –<br /><br />ED considered replacing “careless” with “venture”, but didn’t. Who knows what unspoken words follow “careless” and “toss”. Note that Stanza 4 is a quintain.<br /><br />LINES 16-17: “Just – how – deep – / The other’s one – had been –”<br /><br />ED’s original Lines 16 - 17, written in dark ink with a broad-bibbed pen read, “Just – how – deep - / The other one – had been –”, with no “apostrophe s”. Perhaps she was implying without stating, “Just – how – deeply in love – / The other one – had been -”.<br /><br />She considered replacing “other one – had been” with “other’s foot had been”, editing with lighter ink and a narrow-bibbed pen, perhaps thinking of the cliché “head over heels in love”, but she rejected the idea. <br /><br />Editors have ignored the obvious difference in the two pen tips and failed to remove the “apostrophe s” from “other", hence the silly line, “The other’s one – had been”.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-37588376995326031162023-03-31T11:46:26.046-07:002023-03-31T11:46:26.046-07:00ED’s manuscript of this poem fills five pages of h...ED’s manuscript of this poem fills five pages of her fascicle, more than any preceding poem. It must have been an important poem to her because she continued considering changes on her final fascicle copy, which is atypical of ED. A close inspection and analysis of manuscript PAGE 4 suggests she intended to break the final nonet (nine-line stanza) into two quatrains, combining LINES 25-26 into one LINE 25. Her sequence of thoughts certainly begs for a stanza break there:<br /><br />Alone – if Angels are "alone" –<br />First time they try the sky!<br />Alone – if those "veiled faces" – be –<br />We cannot count – On High!<br /><br />I'd give – to live that hour – again –<br />The purple – in my Vein –<br />But He must count the drops – himself –<br />My price for every stain!<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-62328862515222649902020-07-11T09:16:33.691-07:002020-07-11T09:16:33.691-07:00I am always tempted to read the poem this way but ...I am always tempted to read the poem this way but there are too many signals, I think, that the poem refers to some assignation in this earthly life. There is the 'again' in the first stanza, there is the conversation as if between two equals and there is the speaker extracting a price from the 'he'.<br />Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-64626212687988073542020-07-11T07:45:29.173-07:002020-07-11T07:45:29.173-07:00“He” could be the same coachman who stopped for he...“He” could be the same coachman who stopped for her in “because I could not stop for death” who was also a personification?Pphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01023162636086533197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-51296441150716360412017-08-16T08:43:21.289-07:002017-08-16T08:43:21.289-07:00Understood now! Thank you.
Understood now! Thank you.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-28818390900400192142017-08-16T08:33:04.604-07:002017-08-16T08:33:04.604-07:00She underlines words sometimes and, as in the poem...She underlines words sometimes and, as in the poem above, publishers use italics to indicate her marking. This is a conventional rendering, one based, I think, on aesthetics.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-57276883867330503792017-08-16T07:28:47.017-07:002017-08-16T07:28:47.017-07:00This is a random question, but do you know how Emi...This is a random question, but do you know how Emily indicated italics in her poems?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-16804228911927943972017-08-14T12:11:11.593-07:002017-08-14T12:11:11.593-07:00I read the last lines as the speaker bleeding and ...I read the last lines as the speaker bleeding and the beloved one counting the drops she gave as price to relive that hour. There is a going-to-heaven quality, but because the rest of the poem seems to me to be so courtship-ish, I take the heaven as a metaphor for the earthly love. Two people shy at first beneath the moon, then more and more engrossed.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-54223973619232512912017-08-14T09:19:35.418-07:002017-08-14T09:19:35.418-07:00I am new to poetry, and to Dickinson, but I have b...I am new to poetry, and to Dickinson, but I have been studying her lately and I SO appreciate your site. Could this poem not be about someone going to heaven? I wonder because of "He never saw me- in this life-" and then the last two lines might be interpreted as Jesus on the cross?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-215919397874340952017-07-22T14:35:47.317-07:002017-07-22T14:35:47.317-07:00Thanks, Craig. I added the important 'again...Thanks, Craig. I added the important 'again'.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-62937630289140163782017-07-22T03:50:31.658-07:002017-07-22T03:50:31.658-07:00You have left out a word.
I'd give to live th...You have left out a word. <br />I'd give to live that hour -- again. <br />The purple ..., etc. <br />please check it out. Thanks. Craig Davidsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12797268010726979872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-55559170433827827872016-08-27T22:46:23.207-07:002016-08-27T22:46:23.207-07:00I read it repeatedly because it deserve reading
I read it repeatedly because it deserve reading<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01030094609756475625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-18241308019737117482012-06-28T00:16:15.245-07:002012-06-28T00:16:15.245-07:00Truly beautiful poem, just became one of my favori...Truly beautiful poem, just became one of my favorite.Leticiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09415778856318926494noreply@blogger.com