Should you but fail at – Sea –
In sight of me –
Or doomed lie –
Next Sun – to die –
Or rap – at Paradise – unheard
I'd harass God
Until He let you in!
275
(1862) 226
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This desert really is next to the sun. Peteforsyth |
Dickinson here begins the poem in an old-timey melodramatic way that was
probably all to common in the parlors where poetry was read in her day. She
sketches three woeful fates that might befall her beloved: 1) he might drown in
the ocean – in sight of her! 2) He
might perish in the burning desert “Next [to the] Sun”; or 3) He might die for
any number of reasons but then be knocking on Heaven’s door with nobody letting
him in.
The
first four lines are in rhymed couplets in keeping with their doom: Sea / me;
and lie / die. I’m pretty sure we’re to pronounce “doomed” as “doom – ed” to
emphasize the schmaltz. But then the poet’s playfulness becomes manifest. She
uses “unheard” for the futile rapping at Paradise, but then slant rhymes it
with “God”! It’s a kind of awkward, funny rhyme and it certainly undermines the
sense of poetic tragedy that seemed to be building.
And
then the last two lines clinch the mood. Like a terrier wife, the poet is going
to get after God, “harass” him, until he calls Uncle and opens the door. It’s a
funny image and the diction is comical, too.
The poem was sent to Samuel Bowles, a man often ill and often traveling.
I imagine him saying in response to Dickinson’s frequent wishes for his health
and safety that he didn’t dare die because the Almighty wouldn’t take him in. I
imagine this poem as a response.
I need to know more of this Samuel Bowles as he is becoming more and more curious.
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