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28 July 2011

I never lost as much but twice

I never lost as much but twice,
And that was in the sod.
Twice have I stood a beggar
Before the door of God!

Angels—twice descending
Reimbursed my store—
Burglar! Banker – Father!
I am poor once more!        
                                                               - F 39 (1858)  49


Various learned people have speculated as to who was buried in the sod, but as there is no consensus and as it doesn't fundamentally affect the poem one way or the other, I want to just dive into the poem itself. The most striking part, of course, is where she calls God "Burglar! Banker–Father!" It seems a bit blasphemous. But we understand that when someone is torn with grief they call out wildly. This poem has the feel of a wild call of grief.
     The first line provides the key to the story: I paraphrase it as "I've only lost as much as I just lost two other times before." The loss alluded to here is echoed more powerfully in the last line where she is 'poor once more!' The first two losses were to death. There is an interesting ambiguity about 'the door of God'. Is she standing before the graves, calling that the door -- the gateway, perhaps, to heaven? Or is the door simply a figurative one? At any rate she was beggared by the loss of two friends or dear ones and went to the very door of God for relief. 
     The poem is structured around an economic conceit that is further developed in the second stanza. While in the first, the poet was beggared by loss, in the second her storehouse of dear ones is reimbursed--by descending angels, no less. One thinks of angels delivering babies rather than beaus, so perhaps there were births to compensate for the deaths. But then there was a third loss that once more beggars the poet. We do not see her standing as a beggar before God here but almost lashing out at Him. This loss is probably not to death but to separation or alienation and that can be more embittering. She first calls God a Burglar: he has robbed her of a dear one. Then, 'Banker' -- He can call in the loan or grant reimbursements; He can raise the interest rate; He knows the solvency of her soul. And finally, she calls out to God the Father. 
     There is actually a bit of scripture for the odd Trinity: The Lord's Second Coming is to come 'like a thief in the night' according to the apostle Paul. We are also instructed in the New Testament to store up our treasures in Heaven--with the divine Banker. And Father is the familiar divine Patriarch.


What gives the lines extra punch, besides the alliteration and the whiff of blasphemy, is the syllable emphasis. While the rest of the poem is in garden-variety iambs, this line with the trochaic emphasis on the first syllables: BURglar! BANker--FAther demands to be read with some heat. The poet may be 'poor once more' (a reinforcing internal rhyme) but she is not meekly beggaring herself this time. 

5 comments:

  1. I find it very helpful specially the Burgler allusion to the Lord's second coming.

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  2. Twice ED begged God to spare a best friend and twice her prayers failed. Twice ED found someone she loved as much as she had loved them, but now for a third time her closest friend has died and left ED bereft. Wouldn't you be angry? If it were me, I'd scream "Three strikes, You're out!" ED wasn't Job.

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  3. Deaths from Tuberculosis among ED's friends and family

    YEAR NAME AGE AT DEATH

    1836 Amanda Brown Norcross Stearns 33
    1837 Harriet Arms Gilbert (Sue's mother) 44 or 45
    1840 Lucretia Gunn Dickinson 64
    1844 Deborah W. V. Fiske 38
    1844 Harriet Webster Fowler 46
    1844 Fanny D. Holland (Sophia Holland's mother) 50
    1844 Elizabeth W. Parsons (wife of Rev. David) 55
    1847 Olivia M. Coleman 19
    1848 Jacob Holt 26
    1851 Abby Haskell (L189, 197) 19
    1852 Emily Lavinia Norcross 24
    1852 Mary Dickinson Newman 43
    1852 Mark Haskell Newman 46
    1853 Benjamin Franklin Newton 32
    1857 Eliza O. T. Boyden 36
    1857 Dr. Campbell Ladd Turner 26
    1860 Martha P. Snell 24
    1860 Lavinia Norcross Norcross 48
    1861 Caroline P. Dutch Hunt 61 or 62
    1861 Lucy Waterman Dwight (Rev. Dwight's wife)
    1862 Lamira Jones Norcross 29
    1863 William 0. Norcross 56
    1866 Chester E. Dickinson (Bela's son: L509) 17
    1869 Sarah D. Hunt (Caroline Hunt's daughter) 32
    1871 Maria Flynt Coleman 69
    1871 Eliza Coleman Dudley 39
    1871 Mary Maher 20
    1877 Lizzie Carmichael Mather 41
    1882 Ethel Stearns (L742) 17
    1882 Mary E. Donohue (L753) 16
    1862 Lamira Jones Norcross 29
    1863 William 0. Norcross 56
    1866 Chester E. Dickinson (Bela's son: L509) 17
    1869 Sarah D. Hunt (Caroline Hunt's daughter) 32
    1871 Maria Flynt Coleman 69
    1871 Eliza Coleman Dudley 39
    1871 Mary Maher 20
    1877 Lizzie Carmichael Mather 41
    1882 Ethel Stearns (L742) 17
    1882 Mary E. Donohue (L753) 16

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  4. Perhaps these are the three friends ED is thinking of in "I never lost as much but twice":

    ED's awakening to the reality of death came when Sophia Holland, died on 29 April 1844 [of typhus, “brain fever”]. [ED, age 14,] was [in the room with Sophia until just before her death and returned to the room immediately after]. [She was] so deeply affected that her parents sent her to visit Mrs. Dickinson's sister Lavinia (Mrs. Loring Norcross) in Boston.

    Her roommate [at Holyoke] was Emily Lavinia Norcross, a first cousin and ……..a senior]. Emily Norcross died at age 24 on July 2, 1852 of tuberculosis….. This cousin’s presence alleviated but could not cure the terrible homesickness that oppressed Emily………The two seem to have got on well, the poet pronouncing her cousin an “excellent room-mate,” one who did “all in her power to make me happy.” At the opening of the second term, Dickinson was relieved when Emily Norcross finally showed up, ten days late.

    Benjamin Franklin Newton died March 24, 1853 at age 32 of tuberculosis. He provided formative encouragement when ED was 21.

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