Forget she wore it at her Heart
Because she breathed against
Was Treason twixt?
Deny! Did Rose her Bee —
For Privilege of Play
Or Wile of Butterfly
Or Opportunity — Her Lord away?
The lady with the Amulet — will fade —
The Bee — in Mausoleum laid —
Discard his Bride —
But longer than the little Rill —
That cooled the Forehead of the Hill —
While Other — went the Sea to fill —
And Other — went to turn the Mill —
I'll do thy Will —
F625 (1863) J438
Much of this poem is ambiguous, but here is what is clear: the poem strives to assure a beloved that the speaker will always be faithful, will always "do thy Will". Most of the ambiguity involves who the speaker is and who the accuser is. Is the speaker accusing a beloved – or denying accusations? I've written and discarded many words of commentary arguing for first the one and then the other.
But! I am going to take the simplest route because it is simplest and therefore has some traditional claim to credibility. Besides, the fun (if you could call it that) of the poem lies not in the theme of constancy but in the riot of rhyme. For sake of argument, I'll assume the poem is structured to contrast the speaker's constancy with that of a fickle lady and a fickle Rose.
First the explication.
The speaker adopts a tone of shock and disbelief. The Amulet lady claims to have forgotten the love token at her breast because it had been there against her breath so long she forgot it. Will the next step be some treasonous infidelity against the giver of the amulet? Or has she already committed some treason because the Amulet (and thus its giver) has been so taken for granted?
The second stanza continues the speaker's show of outrage. Here the Rose has denied her Bee Lord her constancy because she wanted to Play, or she was seduced by some rascal Butterfly, or just because there was some Opportunity while the Lord was out of town (while the Bee's away the Rose will play).
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| Popular in both men''s and women's jewelry in Victorian times, the mustard seed symbolized religious faith |
And now the rhyme!
The first line's rhyme of "Forget!" with "Amulet" is just fun. The ticking "t's" also underscore the playful tone – which undermines any sense of real outrage or sarcasm: Forget, amulet, forget, it, Heart, against, Treason, twixt. "Treason twixt" is particularly fun. "Twixt" is just fun to look at, let alone say.
You can claim the first stanza as all in slant rhyme, although the argument would rest rather tenuously upon the final 't' sound. But in the second stanza there is no arguing against Bee, Play, Butterfly, and away. The first word of the stanza, "Deny" sets this up, and the longest word, "Opportunity", reinforces it.
The next three lines features fade, laid, and Bride as rhymes, adding to that the long 'a' of 'lady. Dickinson also uses an alliterative 'l' in: lady, Amulet, Mausoleum, and laid. The final five lines end in very simple true rhymes: Rill, Hill, fill, Mill, and Will.
Find what meaning you will in the poem, I found it, in order, maddening, playful, interesting, earnest, and maddening.
I love your blog - just want to let you know.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, this poem is maddening!
Thank you!
DeleteI read it as a desperate love letter to Kate Anthon. As I'm sure you're aware, she again charges Kate with "treason" many years later in "I shall not murmur if at last..." I can't help but think Emily's weird/ambiguous use of pronouns is to obfuscate the gender of her object of desire.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this is a poem to Sue? Did Austin give Mabel a love-token before she started wearing his wedding ring symbolically? Is Sue being told to forget about them because Emily's love runs deeper and truer and longer?
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy your blog...I love Emily Dickinson so often she speaks for me....
ReplyDeleteI think the specific situation may be even more complicated than imagined by us today. But I do think that ED is in the middle of it! What intrigues me most is how she offers empathy to the intended: eternal devotion. Also, didn't she use the river-to-sea submission symbolism previously? Then, her Caspian was SB.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is a song in praise for mutual co-existance between Daisy and Bee. The Lady is Daisy. the Amulet is Bee.
ReplyDeleteShe was not interested with Victorian ladies amulet at all.
Ha, this is fun. It's poem as soap opera. In the end you can't know what happened perhaps, but you get just enough tantalizing details to help you concoct your own possible story line. It reads to me as a sequel to the love-triangle poem "Her sweet weight on her Heart a night" (F611). It is well worth noting that both of them are in the same fascicle, #29, which invites us to read the intrigue in them together. Both poems are steamy, and yet have a possible spiritual reading; love of the flesh and the spirit are inextricably intertwined here.
ReplyDeleteI'm here for all of that. Below is my take on the story, using the previous poem as a key. In the earlier poem, in my reading, Sue laid her heart on Emily's late one late night, slipping away in the morning. In the current poem Sue pressed her bosom against the poet's, the amulet between. I think both poems may refer to the same moment.
Forget! The lady with the Amulet
ReplyDelete(The lady with the Amulet is Sue. The amulet is generally worn to protect the wearer against evil. Here I think it is meant, perhaps playfully, to imply a ward against an affair. That imperative "Forget!" is a denial, but its passionate exclamation point makes any forgetting seem unlikely. The poet would like to forget, but fat chance.)
Forget she wore it at her Heart
(Sue wears the amulet at her heart because it is tied in with her marriage vows. But also, using the earlier poem as key, Sue laid her heart on Emily's, so there is a doubleness to the Heart here, which is rent between siblings.)
Because she breathed against
(Sue breathes against Emily)
Was Treason twixt?
(Was that breathing together, breast to breast, treason? But also, it may be implied here, that between the two bosoms lie that amulet.)
Deny! Did Rose her Bee —
ReplyDelete(Deny! is a second negative imperative, like Forget! But there is a sliding modifier here because at first it seems to be the poet is saying to deny the lady with the amulet (Sue) but then the rest of the line makes the "deny" qualify the the rose, which is denying the bee. It's a very tricky reversal, especially if you don't catch from later clues that the bee may be Emily. Sue is the rose denying Emily as bee and going back to her husband (It's not an overnight stay, which is why it is seen as a dream-like late night visitation in the previous poem.) Or the bee is Austin here and the rose is denying the bee by being with the butterfly. Is the treason Emily's against Austin, Sue's against Austin? Sue against Emily? It's like a game of Clue.
For Privilege of Play
(One reading here could be that Sue denies her bee, Austin, for the privilege to play with others, including Emily. The earlier poem says, "With Him remain — who unto Me — Gave -- even as to all", which I took to possibly mean Austin was allowing the tryst, the "Privilege of Play" and not just to Emily, but "to all". Perhaps Austin allowed this "play" so he could have it in turn with Mabel Loomis Todd?)
Or Wile of Butterfly
(Butterfly could be Emily here, but I'd vote for another lover, a fourth player, a woman. Because of another poem from this same fascicle (!) "From Cocoon forth a Butterfly/ As Lady from her Door/ Emerged—a Summer Afternoon—/ Repairing Everywhere—". )
Or Opportunity — Her Lord away?
(Austin is away, Sue takes the opportunity to slip across the way to Emily's room. I'm enjoying imagining Emily sneaking downstairs, avoiding the squeaky floor boards, lest they wake Emily's parents or sister, to let Sue in, or perhaps leaving her window open so Sue could climb into her room from below.)
The lady with the Amulet — will fade —
(This poem takes a serious turn here. One thinks of the poet letting go of such dalliances, however meaningful and loving, and leaning forward here, toward the "sacrifice" which was mentioned a few poems ago (Again, in the same fascicle), "To love thee Year by Year --/ May less appear/ Than sacrifice" and which I imagine has to do with the sacrifice she alludes to in "I'm ceded/ I've stopped being theirs".)
The Bee — in Mausoleum laid —
(The Bee here may be Austin, but I think it is also likely to be Emily who will die and discard her bride, Sue. I call Sue Emily's bride because I'm picking up on the lines in the prequel to this poem, F611, where Emily says, "My bride had slipped away.")
Discard his Bride —
(Again, could be Austin or Emily as the corpse discarding "his" bride in the grave, though I think it's meant to be Emily.)
But longer than the little Rill —
(Here we get the start of an amazing declaration of love. I may die, but even in death, "longer than the little rill", longer than the brook flows, I'll do thy will...)
That cooled the Forehead of the Hill —
(Things have gotten hot, both physically and emotionally. That brook of which I spoke, shall cool us down, for forever.)
While Other — went the Sea to fill —
And Other — went to turn the Mill —
(I think this is a clever disguising pun. The riddle is that one rill cools the forehead, one goes out to sea, and one is used to power the mill. But I'm reading a double meaning here that some lover, perhaps Austin, has gone overseas (or perhaps "went the sea to fill" means, has died), and another lover is "at the mill" or out on business, leaving the the two to be free together to cool each other's foreheads.)
I'll do thy Will —
(As long as rivers flow, I'm yours, now and forever.)
Whew!
Now I'm going to have to look closer at this entire fascicle to see if more clues can be found in this fascinating story.
That all is ... impressive and fun -- and quite wild!
ReplyDelete