I know some lonely Houses off the Road
A Robber'd like the look of—
Wooden barred,
And Windows hanging low,
Inviting to—
A Portico,
Where two could creep—
One—hand the Tools—
The other peep—
To make sure all's asleep—
Old fashioned eyes—
Not easy to surprise!
How orderly the Kitchen'd look, by night,
With just a Clock—
But they could gag the Tick—
And Mice won't bark—
And so the Walls—don't tell—
None—will—
A pair of Spectacles ajar just stir—
An Almanac's aware—
Was it the Mat—winked,
Or a Nervous Star?
The Moon—slides down the stair—
To see who's there!
There's plunder—where—
Tankard, or Spoon—
Earring—or Stone—
A Watch—Some Ancient Brooch
To match the Grandmama—
Staid sleeping—there—
Day—rattles—too
Stealth's—slow—
The Sun has got as far
As the third Sycamore—
Screams Chanticleer
"Who's there"?
And Echoes—Trains away,
Sneer—"Where"!
While the old Couple, just astir,
Fancy the Sunrise—left the door ajar!
F 311
(1862) 289
Oh, this one is just fun. Here’s Miss Dickinson planning to burgle a
nice “old Couple” while they sleep. I see her acting the poem out, declaiming
it as an actress would and using plenty of gestures. She creeps and peeps and
snatches plunder and then stealthily steals away.
The
first line sets the scene and readers know they’re in for a story. We Dickinson
fans are waiting for the twist that surprises us into some higher
consciousness, but for once we are treated to a simple story. It would go well
at night, sitting with an audience of children, perhaps, out on the front
steps.
We
first see the house from the eyes of the robbers. It’s a tempting target with
its “Windows hanging low and a portico or porch that helps shield them from
view. Then the vantage shifts and we see it rather objectively although from
the point of view of a woman. Instead of looking at locks and doors we instead
see how the kitchen looks “orderly,” and how the spectacles are lying open on
some shelf. An almanac is open. It’s also “aware”—must be all the intelligence it
holds that gives it this faculty. Even the door mat gets a mention.
The
“plunder” doesn’t sound particularly rich: a tankard, silver spoon, earrings,
old jewelry. The “Ancient Brooch” matches the sleeping “Grandmama.” She is “staid”
as well as “old fashioned.” She and Grandpapa are simple, trusting sould. Even
their rooster is slow off the mark. He doesn’t get alarmed until the sun hits “the
third Sycamore.” And by that time the robbers have made their getaway. They are
as distant as the receding trains whose whistles can be heard far off in the
distance.
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The Dickinson house looks pretty tempting. Maybe she was trying to encourage them to be more watchful... |
The
last stanza has the old couple wondering why their door is open. “The sunrise
did it,” is their best guess. They may never miss the stolen objects or figure
out how the robbers gagged the ticking clock. The mice aren’t talking and the
walls are as uncommunicative as always.
I
wonder if Dickinson isn’t making a fond joke about the forgetful elderly. They
hobble off to bed forgetting to shut the door. They have misplaced some things.
It’s as if burglers paid a visit in the night. Heck, I’ve had days like that.
The old jewelry is eventually found behind some book, the spoon is down the
garbage disposal, and the earrings … well, I never have figured out where they
go!
To
help the oral delivery (whether aloud or just to the internal ear), Dickinson
weaves in slant and recurring rhymes. The second half of the first stanza, for
example, has (and I’m adjusting spelling and punctuation for modern tastes): “Inviting,
too; / A portico, / Where two could creep — / One—hand the Tools— / The other
[robber] peep[s]– / To make sure all’s asleep— / Old fashioned eyes— / [Are]
not easy to surprise!”
That
gives us “too / Portico / two; creep / peep / asleep; and eyes / surprise.
These are quiet sounds and the stanza should be read in a suspenseful whisper.
The second stanza has ‘noisier’ rhymes, and words with hard consonants: Kitchen
/ Clock / Tick / bark. My favorite line is the one where “The Moon—slides down
the stair— / To see whose there!”
That’s my favorite line too!
ReplyDeleteThank you.