tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post7934578679767287826..comments2024-03-29T00:07:13.458-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: Just Once! Oh least Request!Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-31492565116969582772023-10-09T15:20:05.983-07:002023-10-09T15:20:05.983-07:00Correction: The letter to the Norcross cousins is ...Correction: The letter to the Norcross cousins is L785.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-45445222895031344272023-10-08T08:45:42.439-07:002023-10-08T08:45:42.439-07:00“About late 1862” (Franklin), 31-year-old ED begs ...“About late 1862” (Franklin), 31-year-old ED begs “Sweet Deity” to reveal, “Just Once! Oh least Request!”, some kind of credible evidence that He and Heaven really exist. With two caps and two exclamation marks in Line 1, her “Request” sounds more like a demand.<br /><br />On 14 November 1882 ED’s mother died; ED was 51. Two weeks later she wrote her favorite cousins, Louise and Francis Norcross:<br /><br />“There was no earthly parting. She slipped from our fingers like a flake gathered by the wind, and is now part of the drift called "the infinite."<br /><br />“We don't know where she is, though so many tell us.<br /><br />“I believe we shall in some manner be cherished by our Maker - that the One who gave us this remarkable earth has the power still farther to surprise that which He has caused. Beyond that all is silence. . . .” (L1040).<br /><br />Apparently, after her 1862 “Just Once! Oh least Request” for some kind of credible evidence that He and/or Heaven really exist, “a God of Flint” had answered with adamantine silence, leaving her, in 1882, with only “I believe . . .”. <br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-53128986959482544712023-10-07T18:43:22.788-07:002023-10-07T18:43:22.788-07:00ED scores again, saying stuff so subtly it slips u...ED scores again, saying stuff so subtly it slips under our poetry radar. <br /><br />“Would not a God of Flint -,<br />Be conscious of a Sigh,<br />As down His Heaven dropt remote -,<br />“Just Once” - Sweet Deity ?”<br /><br />Dickinson channels Dickens, second novel, ‘Oliver Twist’, 1837:<br /> <br />“’Please, sir,' repeated Oliver, ‘I want some more.’ The master hit Oliver with his spoon, then seized him and cried for help.”<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-71366983297888478222023-10-07T14:34:58.128-07:002023-10-07T14:34:58.128-07:00ED struggled with this poem, penning three variant...ED struggled with this poem, penning three variants: A, 1862 (for Fascicle 22), B, 1863 (to Bowles), and 1866 (saved unfolded). She listed 12 alternative words/phrases in eight/nine lines.<br /><br />Her earliest variant (A, 1862), which may reveal originally recorded intentions, has two quatrains:<br /><br />Just Once! Oh Least - Request!<br />Could Adamant – refuse? <br />So small - a Grace - <br />So scanty put -<br /><br />Would not a God of Flint -,<br />Be conscious of a sigh,<br />As down His Heaven, <br />“Just Once”!, Sweet Deity -!<br /><br />Variant B, 1863, to Bowles, nine lines, two stanzas<br /><br />Just Once! Oh Least – Request -<br />Could Adamant – refuse? <br />So small - a Grace - <br />So scanty - put –<br />Such agonizing Terms?<br /><br />Would not a God of Flint -,<br />Be conscious of a Sigh,<br />As down His Heaven dropt remote -, <br />“Just Once” - Sweet Deity ?<br />Emily<br /><br />Variant C, 1866, unfolded, unsent, one nine-line stanza:<br /><br />Just Once! Oh Least Request!<br />Could Adamant – refuse<br />So small a Grace - <br />So scanty put,<br />Such agonizing Terms?<br />Would not a God of Flint -,<br />Be conscious of a Sigh<br />As down His Heaven dropt remote<br />“Just Once” Sweet Deity ?<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-69579055595394129842023-10-07T14:31:12.893-07:002023-10-07T14:31:12.893-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-64644906602316196642023-09-16T18:21:39.269-07:002023-09-16T18:21:39.269-07:00Interesting. That exclamation point makes a big di...Interesting. That exclamation point makes a big difference.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-32904742126151572962023-09-07T13:57:34.983-07:002023-09-07T13:57:34.983-07:00Hmm, wonder if this is related to the poem a littl...Hmm, wonder if this is related to the poem a little earlier in the same fascicle, "The Himmaleh was known to stoop/ Unto the daisy low". If this was sent to Bowles, then perhaps he is the "God of flint" and the Himmaleh, conscious of the sigh, stooping unto the daisy low. <br /><br />The fascicle version of this has some interesting changes, most notably an exclamation point at the end of the poem instead of a question mark. d scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08242682202760522439noreply@blogger.com