I've
known a Heaven, like a Tent –
To
wrap its shining Yards –
Pluck
up its stakes, and disappear –
Without
the sound of Boards
Or
Rip of Nail – Or Carpenter –
But
just the miles of Stare –
That
signalize a Show's Retreat –
In
North America –
No
Trace – no Figment of the Thing
That
dazzled, Yesterday,
No
Ring – no Marvel –
Men,
and Feats –
Dissolved
as utterly –
As
Bird's far Navigation
Discloses
just a Hue –
A
plash of Oars, a Gaiety –
Then
swallowed up, of View.
F257
(1861) 243
Some
people, and I suspect Emily Dickinson is one of them, can find a little bit of
heaven in a sunset, a soiree, a garden, or a dusty path through a meadow. In
this poem she compares the lush ephemerality of these brief heavens to a
circus. Amherst would no doubt have seen a few traveling circuses and the shows
would have been great attractions. The circus would arrive with a parade:
beautifully outfitted prancing horses, carriages pulling caged lions and
tigers, acrobats marching and twirling, and elephants plodding along with their
tenders. The tents would go up overnight and then the magic would begin – only
to be taken down and removed a day or two later when the circus moved on.
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Everyone watches as the circus leaves town |
The
poet’s heaven came and went like that except that it was more silent. There was
no sound of hammers or all the hustle and bustle of packing up and leaving.
Instead, the Heaven wrapped “its shining Yards,” plucked itself up by the
stakes, and disappeared. It left “No Trace – no Figment” of what was so
dazzling the day before. The acrobats and feats of courage and skill were gone.
The
poet likens the absence of the divine circus to “miles of Stare” – a landscape
you might stare across for miles without seeing the hoped-for thing. The phrase
implies longing and wondering, “stare” being more intense than “gaze.” This
stare might characterize the children staring after the circus train and
carriages disappearing from sight – its “Retreat.” The children might have the
same sense of awe and loss as the poet searching the horizon for the lost
heaven.
In
the second stanza Dickinson frames the absence as the last glimpse of bird in
flight as it is “swallowed up” in the distance. She characterizes this as a
dissolving: the bird is first visible and then begins to fade against the
clouds and sky as it flies away. Finally it is just a hint of color, a slight
indication of movement. She describes this as the “plash of Oars” as if the
bird were rowing through the sky. She will use similar imagery in 1862 in the
familiar poem, “A Bird, came down the Walk.” In this poem the narrator feeds
the bird a crumb and then -
… he unrolled his feathers,
And rowed him softer Home –
Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,
Leap, plashless, as they swim.
The last fleeting sense of the bird before it
dissolves from view is “a Gaiety.” I picture the flowing, bounding flight of a
song sparrow – gay as can be! Once the bird is gone, all that remains is the “View.”
Dickinson’s
treatment of absence as “miles of Stare” and of as a swallowing “View” is slightly
disturbing. It is as if our eyes are looking into some vastness that is not
empty as it appears but somehow full of potential presence. We see something
marvelous or delightful. It disappears without a sound but the air has changed;
something still lingers from the circus disappearing in the horizon, the birds
fading against the sky. A space has been made that is now empty, much as the
empty corner still contains something of the easy chair that once sat so
comfortably there.
I've just stumbled upon your blog and I absolutely love it.
ReplyDeletethanks!
DeleteThis is a beautiful reading of one of my favourite Dickinson poems. Might I ask what prompted you to start on this journey of blogging all the poems and where you are in this process? I would also be interested in communicating offline should you wish to do so.
ReplyDeleteThank you -- it's one of my favorite's, too. A contact form is on the bottom left of this page -- messages go directly to my email. You are welcome to contact!
DeleteI think she is saying it is time for another Jesus show! I second that emotion.
ReplyDeleteThank you - yours are the interpretations that make the most sense as I navigate a year of one E.D. poem a day.
ReplyDeleteMuito obrigada!
ReplyDeleteWow, I loved so much your interpretation. I absolutely love reading ED but I have to say that I also love reading you!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I just love this poem. It never tires.
DeleteI enjoyed this poem this morning with my morning coffee. I Googled an analysis of the poem to understand it better, and yours was the first and pretty much only lay person-level analysis. Really excellent, and thank you so much for doing this. The more understanding I appreciation we have for the fabulous MissD. The better!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful poem to start the day with. Thank you for the kind words.
Delete