tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post7853381381252902724..comments2024-03-28T11:04:36.401-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: Sleep is supposed to beSusan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-43278229399144674192022-09-07T08:50:09.222-07:002022-09-07T08:50:09.222-07:00Harvard Letter 198 is a brief note, ‘To my Father’...Harvard Letter 198 is a brief note, ‘To my Father’, followed by ED’s poem, ‘Sleep is meant to be”, which ED sent as a letter to Susan Dickinson about 1858, perhaps for Susan's editorial comments or perhaps as a record of a letter ED had given her father. The note to her father thanks him for relieving her of her chores in the kitchen between 3 AM and 12 PM, presumably at ED’s request, to allow time for gardening and writing. Here’s the note’s closing and signature:<br /><br />“These grateful lines are inscribed by his aff<br /> ................................................................Daughter.”<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-78550367085733742952022-04-05T13:15:35.655-07:002022-04-05T13:15:35.655-07:00Thanks, Larry. That formatting really got messed u...Thanks, Larry. That formatting really got messed up!Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-52557452535141230132022-04-05T09:52:06.021-07:002022-04-05T09:52:06.021-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-49533862714229085542017-04-22T19:37:34.214-07:002017-04-22T19:37:34.214-07:00Thanks, Stephen -- it's fixed. I am in total a...Thanks, Stephen -- it's fixed. I am in total agreement about Miller's book. It's the first place I look when beginning a new poem; that and the online Dickinson Archive repros of the poems. While my first impulse was to downplay the argument that 'wh'' vs 'which' offer substantive differences in the poem, after reading the revised poem I see what you mean. It is a precise thing having a lot to do, I think, with Dickinson's precise sense of rhythm. In this poem the rhythm is jazzy; the 'Morning has not occurred' percussive. The 'ich' of 'which' is a thumb on the metric balance. I appreciate your noting it!Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-22634020849410062032017-04-22T10:35:56.236-07:002017-04-22T10:35:56.236-07:00Thanks again for your blog -- it's a great tou...Thanks again for your blog -- it's a great touchstone for reading and conversation about Dickinson and her work. <br /><br />As often as readers see titles inserted above Dickinson's work (even in Franklin and so many other places), Dickinson did not title her work and her position on this topic was firm -- to say the least! I would urge your readers to take a look at Cristanne Millers superb monument to editing Dickinson's poems as she actually preserved them (The Belknap Press, 2016). This is the only edition that presents her work arranged in the folios she bound herself.<br /><br />As for the poem with the first line "Sleep is supposed to be" you have two typos that I can't talk myself out of not mentioning: Line 5 in the holograph of Dickinson's own hand reads: "Down wh', on either hand," a syncope; and in the last line of the poem the word "That" is underlined. Since you are presenting the poem in italics, the convention would be simply to unitalicize that word or to underline it. <br /><br />Back to the syncope. I know it may seem trivial at first, but the syncope in Line 5 is actually important, since Dickinson clearly wanted to emphasize the spondees in the first position in the first lines of the first three stanzas ("Sleep is" and "Morn is"). Inserting "Down which" instead of "Down wh'" actually turns the trochee she wrote into the spondee ("Down which"). Her construction "Down wh'" also offers the ambiguity of suggesting "which" and perhaps "downward." As I read this poem, the effect of not having spondees in the second and third lines of the first three stanzas is effective in emphasizing the strong trochees that launch those stanzas.<br /><br />Your reference to Dickinson's own dig on her father's control of the household and the bleary cul-de-sacs this left for her to pursue her work, is an important footnote to the poem. This is one of my favorite Dickinson poems, and I have to guess that Dickinson would be gratified to see readers drawn into the gravity of "the station grand." <br /><br />Thanks again for your blog. This is a monumental effort!<br /><br />StephenAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00928512218370715913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-77236455321674423292017-04-20T07:44:46.255-07:002017-04-20T07:44:46.255-07:00Aurora coming in splendid attire -- the red clouds...Aurora coming in splendid attire -- the red clouds of dawn. That's my take.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-65490207263557285392017-04-19T21:46:47.213-07:002017-04-19T21:46:47.213-07:00What could the red array be?What could the red array be?Emily Weaverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02515674480028643063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-9214637010586456612015-10-30T19:07:12.729-07:002015-10-30T19:07:12.729-07:00Good point! But that heavenly host is sleeping on ...Good point! But that heavenly host is sleeping on the job... or perhaps they, too, defer to the father.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-26073861045445221832015-10-29T09:38:16.993-07:002015-10-29T09:38:16.993-07:00Additionally, this stance (set out above) in a poe...Additionally, this stance (set out above) in a poem to her father would seemingly lend support (highest support :-) to her plea, as well as appeal to his religious mindset.Teri-Sue Thompsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-8636293850042055222015-10-29T09:13:25.284-07:002015-10-29T09:13:25.284-07:002nd Stanza - I don't think she's referring...2nd Stanza - I don't think she's referring to people at all, but rather to "heavenly hosts" ... angels watching (witnessing) from above, in their station grand (heaven) as they look "down" upon her, perhaps guarding her (guardian angels) as she lies in the innocence of sleep.Teri-Sue Thompsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-13663534118894862282014-01-08T07:22:49.141-08:002014-01-08T07:22:49.141-08:00Okay, I concede the point. Dreams do take us to od...Okay, I concede the point. Dreams do take us to odd places and bizarre situations. I like the idea, upon reflection, of going to sleep as going to a grand station, full of people. Trains or carriages would be taking travelers in all directions. Good sleep adventure!Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-21002751324296315562014-01-04T06:12:02.205-08:002014-01-04T06:12:02.205-08:00I love your blog. Is it too late to comment on an ...I love your blog. Is it too late to comment on an entry from 2 1/2 years ago? I read the second paragraph as referring to the dreamworld that follows the shutting of the eye in the first paragraph. Like you, I don't see a host of people when I nod off. But I often do soon after!Ira Faderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13250123051130831962noreply@blogger.com