The Mountains – grow unnoticed –

The Mountains – grow unnoticed –
Their Purple figures rise
Without attempt – Exhaustion –
Assistance – or Applause –

In Their Eternal Faces
The Sun – with just delight
Looks long – and last – and golden –
For fellowship – at night –

   -Fr768, J757,  fascicle 34, 1863

When you read “The Mountains – grow unnoticed –/ Their Purple Figures rise,” it is hard not to think of Dickinson herself, who grew into a literary mountain, though she was virtually unnoticed in her lifetime, and whose Purple (read: royal) Figure is still rising.

I doubt Dickinson was thinking of fame when she wrote this poem. I imagine that it was more of a reminder to herself, and perhaps to her reader, to be patient. The wonder though is that this reminder worked, which is clear in retrospect. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

This is a wisdom poem. Dickinson appears to be in line with Lao Tzu’s "Tao Te Ching." She says the mountain forms without attempting, exhaustion, assistance or applause. Lao Tzu says:

“He who raises himself on tiptoe cannot stand firm. He who walks with strides cannot travel far. He who brags about himself shall not receive credit.”

Dickinson is attempting to align herself, and her reader, with the Eternal Faces represented by the mountains.

The second stanza is beautiful,

In Their Eternal Faces
The Sun – with just delight
Looks long – and last – and golden –
For fellowship – at night –

In the mountains we have an image of something grand and eternal being looked at “long and last” by the "Sun," or by whatever might be meant metaphorically by Sun; Son of God? Inspiration? Glory? Then the two rest together at night, in fellowship. If, in poetic parlance, night equals death, then this is the kind of death Dickinson aspires to: a golden light setting on a purple mountain's majesty.

It’s a beautiful thought, and the poem serves as a paean to patience. It's a reminder that it doesn't matter if you are unnoticed, and don't worry about applause. The true relation you are seeking, the Sun on your Peaks, will be there if you just keep on keeping on. The paradox, the trick, is to keep on without attempting to do it. Like Yoda says, "There is no try, there is only do."

The best part is that when you are no longer "attempting," there is nothing to be exhausted over.  You can do your work restfully, with Dickinson as a prime example. As the great poet and painter Joe Brainard says, 

    

        -/)dam Wade l)eGraff