tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post6749072169400069212..comments2024-03-27T11:02:20.107-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: He fumbles at your SoulSusan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-41625704924115917902023-10-07T18:24:22.479-07:002023-10-07T18:24:22.479-07:00"When Winds hold Forests in their Paws—
The U..."When Winds hold Forests in their Paws—<br />The Universe — is still —"<br /><br />When Wadsworth holds congregations in his grip,<br />the Universe stops moving.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-36175309138163566172023-10-07T07:38:01.346-07:002023-10-07T07:38:01.346-07:00Wadsworth led San Francisco Calvary Presbyterian s...Wadsworth led San Francisco Calvary Presbyterian seven years, 1862-1869. Before that, from 1850-1862, he pastored Philadelphia’s Arch Street Presbyterian. His sermons and style there matched those described by Dr. Burrowes in San Francisco (1863, 'Impressions of Dr. Wadsworth as a Preacher'). <br /><br />George F. Whicher, Professor of English at Amherst College (1915-1954), published one of ED’s early book-length biographies, which included a description of Wadsworth’s sermons (Whicher, George F., 1938, ‘This was a Poet’, Amherst College Press, 337 pages, reprinted 1992 with an introduction by Richard B. Sewall, pp. 101-102):<br /><br />“In the pulpit he used few gestures and scrupulously avoided any trick of manner. He adhered closely to the carefully written manuscript of his sermon, almost reading it aloud. Nevertheless his sheer moral intensity penetrated the most sealed and obdurate hearts, and his congregations were shaken as if by a whirlwind. As Emily Dickinson put it, he wrought upon his hearers gradually, then with increasing hammer strokes, and when the stupendous moment came, dealt ''one imperial thunderbolt that scalps your naked soul.'' <br /><br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-1133318144726172252023-10-06T17:31:36.464-07:002023-10-06T17:31:36.464-07:00Dr./Rev. Charles Wadsworth arrived in San Francisc...Dr./Rev. Charles Wadsworth arrived in San Francisco in June 1862 and immediately began preaching at Calvary Presbyterian Church. Membership at the church was 12 families and attendance at Sunday sermons had been low. Within weeks the pews were filling and within months people were arriving an hour early to secure a seat. In 1863, George Burrowes, a nationally known minister and professor at San Francisco Theological Seminary <br /><br />(https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8qf8zj9/ ) published a 24-page pamphlet that would be labelled hype were it from a less eminent source (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/590be125ff7c502a07752a5b/t/5b04dbf42b6a2870b17f63fb/1527045109598/Burrowes%2C+George%2C+Impressions+of+Dr.+Wadsworth+as+a+Preacher.pdf). <br /><br />This excerpt from Burrowes’ pamphlet (pp. 13-15) perhaps explains why ED, age 24 in March 1855, fell in love with him after hearing one sermon and stayed that way to the end of her life:<br /><br />“No preaching can be popular without being practical. His preaching is eminently practical. It shows great shrewdness and penetration into the heart and into the motives operating in daily life. It owes not its interest to startling novelties; it does not draw its power from oratorical elocution. It is not rhetorical; it is not flowery; it is not metaphysical. It is not addressed to some particular fancy or idiosyncrasy of the day. You cannot detect in him any shade of resemblance to the features of the family of sensation-preachers. He has nothing in common with them. The very appearance of the man in the pulpit shows his abhorrence of claptrap and cant. You see that self is left in the background. His case is a fulfillment of the promise, "He that shall humble himself, shall be exalted."--:Matt. 23: 12. <br /><br />“He shrinks from public notoriety, public demonstrations, and public applause. He possesses eminently, so much so that it is a deficiency in his character, the very unusual disposition to undervalue himself and his productions. He cannot understand how he could ever be viewed as a preacher of mark and power. The crowds that have ever hung around his ministry, are to him alone a mystery. After sermons under which all hearts in a crowded congregation are melted down, and recover from their breathless and even painful attention with admiration and tears, he alone will sit [behind the pulpit] overcome with a sense of failure and of little worth in so magnificent an effort. Nor is this feeling of personal shortcoming and unworthiness a mere pretense: a maneuver for drawing forth expressions of admiration. It is a deep, honest conviction, resulting from a constitutional peculiarity that can never be removed.”<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-35898324381461845102023-10-06T14:46:15.817-07:002023-10-06T14:46:15.817-07:00A great poem fumbles with our souls in many ways: ...A great poem fumbles with our souls in many ways: <br /><br />1. “Dickinson’s depiction of the terrors of God, . . . , what it was like for her to encounter God”” (Kornfeld),<br />2. “a sketch of Rev. Charles Wadsworth's powers in the pulpit” (Larry B),<br />3. “a lyrical way to describe aging and death”, (-D-)<br />4. “the effect of art [poetry] on the audience”, (Anonymous, July 22, 2013)<br />5. “a . . . reference to the piano playing [fainter Hammers — further heard —]”, (Anonymous September 16, 2015)<br />6. “the blood flow rushing through one’s head”, (Anonymous October 1, 2015)<br />7. “some horrors of war”, (mcjeeps)<br />8. “a lovely poem about lovemaking”, (Anonymous April 15, 2020)<br />9. “a description of a mystic episode”, Rosemary<br />10. “a hurricane”, Anonymous September 22, 2022<br /><br />This must be a super great poem.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-15750081276859556882022-10-05T22:06:55.707-07:002022-10-05T22:06:55.707-07:00"Vesuvius at Home""Vesuvius at Home"Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-47701645160919138992022-10-05T07:42:00.742-07:002022-10-05T07:42:00.742-07:00Which Adrienne Rich essay are you citing? Thank yo...Which Adrienne Rich essay are you citing? Thank you. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-74212584376102719042022-09-23T08:01:46.448-07:002022-09-23T08:01:46.448-07:00Thank YOU!Thank YOU!Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-62026474491979184512022-09-23T07:57:59.363-07:002022-09-23T07:57:59.363-07:00You're right! Also, in 1849 a hurricane lande...You're right! Also, in 1849 a hurricane landed in Massachusetts causing 143 deaths. (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1840s_Atlantic_hurricane_seasons#Hurricane_Three_6). Ethereal or hellacious, it's hard to distinguish during a Katrina type hurricane.<br />I love your project & my project is to read the entirety of your work here. It has been much help to me. Thank You.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-23297386654879760602022-09-22T09:25:04.660-07:002022-09-22T09:25:04.660-07:00I had never thought of that! I can fit a lot of th...I had never thought of that! I can fit a lot of the poem into that reading. "Ethereal blow" seems more 'heavenly' to me, but perhaps it fits with hurricane winds. Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-27460923925236425282022-09-22T07:10:06.267-07:002022-09-22T07:10:06.267-07:00Maybe the "He" is just the wind.
This re...Maybe the "He" is just the wind.<br />This reminds me of living thru a hurricane with trepidation & fear building while the wind toys with you before the grand finale.<br />Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-54416331802682416002022-03-14T00:55:25.969-07:002022-03-14T00:55:25.969-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-30920921584786472322021-05-01T22:53:14.917-07:002021-05-01T22:53:14.917-07:00If sex, I think it the underlying metaphor not the...If sex, I think it the underlying metaphor not the thing itself. If only sex, it is a very masculinist framing -- explicitly, with the "He" and also with the verbiage. All those vivid verbs phrases refer to what the He is doing. <br /><br />I wonder, though, how an 'ethereal blow' fits with sex outside of the metaphor.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-76563928251292937392020-09-22T06:14:06.893-07:002020-09-22T06:14:06.893-07:00I liked the moderator pointing out that this is, i...I liked the moderator pointing out that this is, in fact, a sonnet.Rosemary Farrarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07908846085349312430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-63282061415440189442020-09-20T10:11:20.946-07:002020-09-20T10:11:20.946-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Rosemary Farrarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07908846085349312430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-3871563961388979452020-09-20T10:05:29.763-07:002020-09-20T10:05:29.763-07:00I have always felt that this poem is a description...I have always felt that this poem is a description of a mystic episode.Rosemary Farrarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07908846085349312430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-23579853672221138082020-04-03T22:07:23.965-07:002020-04-03T22:07:23.965-07:00Hmmmmm.... yes. I think one could fit that. Maybe ...Hmmmmm.... yes. I think one could fit that. Maybe 'lovely' would not be quite strong enough, but, still, yes.<br />Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-43553241785938980942020-04-03T16:02:16.597-07:002020-04-03T16:02:16.597-07:00May I please read this as a lovely poem about love...May I please read this as a lovely poem about lovemaking. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-42036038645804752702020-03-13T14:34:12.206-07:002020-03-13T14:34:12.206-07:00Thank you for the link -- very engaging discussion...Thank you for the link -- very engaging discussion!<br />Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-13770617229946541482020-03-10T22:02:31.357-07:002020-03-10T22:02:31.357-07:00A 45 minute conversation about this poem led by Al...A 45 minute conversation about this poem led by Al Filreis, UPenn, ModPo instructor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdzbeoMwFQk&fbclid=IwAR281zqPj5uwqro8jdZ1KxVzNXPtbDfSk6-INqCDIQnXzJ_pRBmL5Doyy6EJim Bumgarnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15239031501783525649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-16373049092974091922020-03-10T22:00:58.785-07:002020-03-10T22:00:58.785-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jim Bumgarnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15239031501783525649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-44234567328134658582018-11-14T20:22:33.901-08:002018-11-14T20:22:33.901-08:00I like the comment about the effect of an artist o...I like the comment about the effect of an artist on his audience. The God/rape thought is fairly terrifying, but as a musician who has performed and, more than that, has enjoyed great performances, I have experienced that Thunderbolt that scalps the naked soul. There is a sensuality to the poem that is very palpable though - if it is indeed about the effect of art on an audience, her take provides (as usual!) a different view. Marvelous. If of God, then terrifying to be sure.Nathan Noblehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10486764091038404058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-77043542375489955172018-11-14T20:20:52.118-08:002018-11-14T20:20:52.118-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Nathan Noblehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10486764091038404058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-57925327023970021172018-05-16T10:24:32.454-07:002018-05-16T10:24:32.454-07:00Dickinson is notoriously difficult: she leaves wor...Dickinson is notoriously difficult: she leaves words and punctuation out, her pronouns are often without a clear antecedent, and she eschews spelling things out. As in this poem, the core conceit might be one of several different things. <br /><br />That ambiguity and difficulty, plus the power and wonderful originality of many of her poems (such as this one) convinced me to tackle this project. At about four hundred poems I found them a bit easier to get a handle on (although not to feel confident about 'what they mean').<br />Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-81363156070788074272018-05-16T09:40:58.669-07:002018-05-16T09:40:58.669-07:00Hi Susan! Thank you for doing this blog. I am expl...Hi Susan! Thank you for doing this blog. I am exploring Dickinson for the first time and your interpretations are helping to sensitize me to my own. I love how encouraging you are to your readers to make our own interpretations, and how solidly reasoned and defended your own are. I'm finding it a little difficult to engage Dickinson's work. I don't know if that is a product of my personality, my generation, or her work, but, regardless, I'm sure it her work is worth the effort! <br /><br />Anyway, thank you again! I look forward to continuing the conversation.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16666762190961895029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-62357818983758340032017-08-03T19:16:59.721-07:002017-08-03T19:16:59.721-07:00Interesting, but I'm not convinced. For one th...Interesting, but I'm not convinced. For one thing, the poem doesn't seem to deal with the corporal self; you have to paint that in yourself. Second, the scalping imperial thunderbolt seems excessive as a culmination of the aging process. Third, and most intriguingly important: such an exegesis can't comfortably account for the last two lines. Can they?<br /><br />If you think about some of her Death poetry, they often are almost anticlimactic in terms of soul-scalping. There is the gentleman caller in 'Stop for Death', there are the housewives and children who sort of fade away, and there are the Dead themselves waiting for an eternity for a Rapture that doesn't come, or talking among themselves. There are those who go triumphant to a wonderful heaven. So, yes, Dickinson does often take Death as her subject; but I don't think that part of her opus supports this disturbing poem.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.com