For Hosts — do visit me —
Recordless Company —
Who baffle Key —
They have no Robes, nor Names —
No Almanacs — nor Climes —
But general Homes
Like Gnomes —
Their Coming, may be known
By Couriers within —
Their going — is not —
For they've never gone —
F303
(1862) 298
This poem builds on the inner life and sensibilities of the previous
poem (“It’s like the Light”) and the ones mentioned in its discussion. This
time Dickinson describes an inner life filled with mysterious visitors—many
mysterious visitors for there are “Hosts” of them. “Hosts” is used here in the
old-fashioned sense of throngs or “hosts of angels.” They leave no record and
baffle understanding: there is no “Key” to explain them.
These
hosts of folks residing within her are not like ghosts or spirits. They are not
from a specific local and they are not identified by individual names. When
Dickinson writes that they are “Like Gnomes,” she is doing more than looking
for a good rhyme for “Homes.”
In her day gnomes were considered
to be a sort of anti-fairy: not lovely and light and charming, but rather earth
dwellers and mythically able to move through solid earth as easily as we move
through air. Thus, Dickinson’s spirits can reside rather magically anywhere.
In
the third stanza we see that she is attuned to their presence. When one comes
and joins the rest her interior “Couriers” let her know. Perhaps this is her
keen sensitivity that lends her poetry such power. Interestingly, these spirits
never leave. It must be crowded inside Emily Dickinson. This may also explain
why she felt no need to leave her house even to visit friends. Her interior
life was alive with interactions with other beings.
Thanks, your analysis helped me a lot.
ReplyDeleteCould she mean memories of friends/family that never leave her?
ReplyDeletePerhaps, but Dickinson says they have no names, so that argues against that in my mind.
DeleteYour comments are very helpful to me and my poetry group.
ReplyDeleteKathleen
I've been looking for it. Thanks
ReplyDelete