Therein thyself shalt find
The "Undiscovered Continent"—
No Settler, had the Mind.
-Fr814, J832, sheet 13, early 1865
This poem was a note sent from Emily to her brother Austin.
It begins with a kind of primal sound, like a piercing bird-call. Soto! That's an attention grabber, emphasized even more by that exclamation point that follows. It’s almost pure exclamation.
I'd imagine Dickinson chose the name Soto for that reason. Magellan doesn't have the same sharpness. But there may have been other reasons she chose the name too. De Soto was a pretty despicable dude it turns out. Check out these 10 facts about him for a (bad) taste of his exploits. Dickinson likely didn't know about any of his slave trading and Indian massacres, or maybe she did? If De Soto had a sister like Dickinson, and he listened to her, much bloodshed would have been avoided. It's perhaps worth noting that De Soto's parents wanted him to be a lawyer, just like Austin's.
Why is this poem in such an excited state from the get-go? What’s with those double exclamation marks?
Why so urgent the command to Austin (and consequently to us) to make like a great explorer and “Explore thyself!”
Was Emily feeling a sister’s frustration caused by an idiotic brother's behavior? Or, maybe it is just an expression of enthusiastic love.
I hear echoes of “Doctor, heal thyself” in that first line, as well as the delphic Oracle of Apollo’s command to, “Know Thyself!”
The wisdom that she’s imparting to her brother is that the thing he is looking for is within him.
I'm reminded of the words attributed to St. Francis, "The one you are looking for is the one who is looking."
The poem poses a challenge to us. Can we discover our own “continent” within? Could Emily? I think at this point in her life she was beginning to be more and more self-possessed. Maybe Emily wrote this poem for herself first, and that’s why the it is so exclamatory.
The last line of this poem is powerful. No settler had the mind. First of all, the idea of “settling” your own mind is hard to fathom. Who, or what, is it that is settling the mind?
Second, the idea is there that the one thing most worth settling is your own mind because it is the one place that only you can access.
Usually when this poem is printed it does not have that comma in the last line. I’ve included it here, though, because it seems to be pretty clearly marked in the original handwritten letter.
The poem is deep enough without that comma there, but with the comma a whole new amazing idea comes into play.
"No settler, had the mind."
If you truly had your own mind, you wouldn’t be a settler at all, in all senses of the words “settle.” The true mind has no settlers. The mind is always in motion! It's more verb than noun. More flow than Florida.
Always in motion, as Dickinson’s mind always seemed to be, and, wonder of wonders, still is, through the alchemical magic of her poetry in the ear.
If you truly had your own mind, you wouldn’t be a settler at all, in all senses of the words “settle.” The true mind has no settlers. The mind is always in motion! It's more verb than noun. More flow than Florida.
Always in motion, as Dickinson’s mind always seemed to be, and, wonder of wonders, still is, through the alchemical magic of her poetry in the ear.
-/)dam Wade l)eGraff
Hernando De Soto
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