tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post6242110152405816596..comments2024-03-27T11:02:20.107-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: I cried at Pity—not at Pain—Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-59283056376115670552023-07-21T15:16:30.857-07:002023-07-21T15:16:30.857-07:00Here's an interpretation of the six stanzas:
...Here's an interpretation of the six stanzas:<br /><br />I cried in self-pity, not pain, when I heard a woman say, "Poor Child", and something in her voice convicted me of self-inflicted depression.<br /><br />I have been depressed for so long It feels normal, and health and laughter seem strange to watch, like a fiction.<br /><br />I sometimes hear that healthy people achieve happiness here on Earth and carry it to Heaven to share with children there,<br /><br />But happiness is not for me to touch or wish for, or even think of with a sigh: “Wadsworth might have been mine if God had willed it differently.”<br /><br />I wish I knew that Woman's name so when she comes this way so I can hold my life and ears for fear I hear her say, <br /><br />She's “sorry I’m depressed again”, just when my self-pity and I have sobbed ourselves almost to sleep, our only lullaby.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-3985962888920455402023-07-21T14:49:24.939-07:002023-07-21T14:49:24.939-07:00Anonymous (8/23/22) is onto something.
Franklin ...Anonymous (8/23/22) is onto something. <br /><br />Franklin dates this poem, ‘I cried at Pity—not at Pain—‘ (F394), “about Autumn 1862”. ED told Higginson in her second letter (L261, 25 April 1862) “I had a terror - since September - I could tell to none-and so I sing [write poems], as the Boy does by the Burying Ground-because I am afraid”. Seven years later, she told him, “You were not aware that you saved my Life. To thank you in person has been since then one of my few requests” (L330, June 1869). <br /><br />My take on “terror” and “afraid” is deep depression, possibly suicidal.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-75379134997471231812023-07-21T14:19:57.335-07:002023-07-21T14:19:57.335-07:00ED’s original manuscript Line 4 read “Convinced my...ED’s original manuscript Line 4 read “Convinced myself of me”, which to me means “Convinced myself she was speaking of me”. In pencil above Line 4 ED wrote, “Convicted me of me”. <br /><br />There seem two reasons why she would revise: As first written, “myself” is repeated in Line 5, diminishing its force in both lines, and, second, “Convicted me of me” jolts us to attention and adds a sense of guilt. Franklin, for some reason, compromises with “Convinced me of me”, which feels weak.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-78000528504320924022022-08-23T20:01:05.561-07:002022-08-23T20:01:05.561-07:00Could this be about epilepsy? Fainting and being p...Could this be about epilepsy? Fainting and being perceived as dead?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-48065426853852991912020-08-12T18:54:03.410-07:002020-08-12T18:54:03.410-07:00I wonder if Saunders read this poem...I wonder if Saunders read this poem...Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-13529023903637547752020-08-11T06:00:51.274-07:002020-08-11T06:00:51.274-07:00ED must have known the Buddhist concept of the bar...ED must have known the Buddhist concept of the bardo - the limbo between life and subsequent reassignation to later incarnation - and imagined the “consciousness” of the souls “in the bardo” - <br />Read “Lincoln in the bardo” (Saunders) - very Dickinson-like! Pphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01023162636086533197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-48299579679495932172017-01-12T14:20:45.231-08:002017-01-12T14:20:45.231-08:00Interesting; perhaps the two words share the meani...Interesting; perhaps the two words share the meaning of conviction.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-80784660602050053042017-01-05T17:37:36.923-08:002017-01-05T17:37:36.923-08:00How bizarre. The original version in fascicle nin...How bizarre. The original version in fascicle nineteen that I am reading is "convicted me of me". Convinced adds a much different twist.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10047678873938396282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-67936958332503858522015-02-16T09:09:10.835-08:002015-02-16T09:09:10.835-08:00It was something in the pitying woman's voice ...It was something in the pitying woman's voice who "convinced me – of me" -- as if the dead girl had been gradually losing identity and was called back. Seems rather Greek.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-46810016008362888642015-02-16T05:29:27.677-08:002015-02-16T05:29:27.677-08:00What amazes me is ED's ability to give death ...What amazes me is ED's ability to give death a consciousness, a personality, as if she is bringing the reader with her beyond the grave, as if her mind has transcended the boundaries between life and death and her poems simply step across the threshold barred from the rest of us from spanning until we actually die. Amazing!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com