Come
slowly—Eden!
Lips
unused to Thee—
Bashful—sip
thy Jessamines—
As
the fainting Bee—
Reaching
late his flower,
Round
her chamber hums—
Counts
his nectars—
Enters—and
is lost in Balms.
-
F205 (1861) 211
Too
much paradise too soon would be just … too much. It is not to rushed at and
inhaled, nor is it to be wished that we are swooped up to heaven
instantaneously. What should be bliss might turn instead to oversatiety or even
fearful incomprehension.
The
poem’s tone is solemn and slow, opening with a spondee – Come slowly
– and using long vowel sounds to stretch the line out: slowly, Eden. The second
line continues the long sounds with “unused” and “Thee.” A nice rhyme of “Thee”
with “Bee,” again with the long sounds,” imparts a prayerful, hymn-like quality
to the stanza.
The
stanza is also quite visual. We see a bashful person – a pilgrim or someone on
death’s door, or someone in ecstatic trance – verging on Eden. The vision is so
intense and desirable that the pilgrim only sips bashfully at the heavenly
nectar – the sweet “Jessamines” with their fragrant balm, or nectar. We are used
to ordinary life, so is it any wonder that Eden might be overpowering? We then
see the Bee, weak and “fainting,” and then the stanza breaks, which serves
again to postpone pleasure just as the pleasure of Eden must be sipped.
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Bee about to lose itself in the balm of a jasmine (photo courtesy of Dev Wijewardane) |
Susan, you can use the image on the blog. my only request is a reference and a link back to my blog.
ReplyDeleteThe second stanza could very well be much more graphic as we see the actual Bee finally attaining your flower they had been searching for.
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Is it just me, or is there a sexual metaphor going on here? The first stanza from the point of view virgin female unused to sex asking to go slowly. The bashful lips sipping from the passion flower.
ReplyDeleteThe second stanza is from the point of view of the male bee who is a bit tardy coming to his love, enters her chamber and is lost in balms (aromatic sap or juice..that which heals).
A longed for consummation of love is like entering paradise!
Yes, very sexual indeed. I love the delicious sensuality of this poem. However, it might be also said that Dickinson is using a sexual metaphor for a transcendent relationship -- as if becoming deeply intimate with someone, nonsexually, is like both sexual consummation as well as the bees blissful entrance into the balms of the fragrant jasmine.
DeleteBut of course
DeleteThe end rhyme of the poem above is?
ReplyDeleteThe end rhyme of the poem above is
ReplyDeleteCheck the last word. What is it rhymed with?
DeleteSomething strange has happened, simultaneous irruption of Vesuvius and Aetna.
ReplyDeleteFive pessimistic after pessimistic poems: F193 Broken trust, F194 Unreal marriage, F195 Lovelorn longing, F196 Chiding neediness, F197 Bearing pain.
Suddenly, six happy poems: F198 Babbling baby lips, F199 Anticipated love, F200 First young love, F201 Rekindled love, F202 Friends sharing secrets of the heart, F203 Surging breasts.
One relapse into wistful piety: F204 Dead children cross the stile of death.
Finally and without warning, unprecedented incredibly frank celebration of sexual reunion: F205 Come slowly Eden! / Lips unused to thee / Bashful—sip thy Jessamines— / As the fainting Bee—.
Dying worth waiting for…..