tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post134282155020089715..comments2024-03-29T00:07:13.458-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: Two swimmers wrestled on the spar –Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-7403162033308190132024-03-27T11:02:20.107-07:002024-03-27T11:02:20.107-07:00Reminds me of Franz Kafka: “It would be very unjus...Reminds me of Franz Kafka: “It would be very unjust to say that you deserted me, but that I was deserted, and sometimes terribly so, is true.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-58155512741328010022023-04-11T07:19:50.035-07:002023-04-11T07:19:50.035-07:00After wrestling with 58 more poems (F228-F286) and...After wrestling with 58 more poems (F228-F286) and related biographical information, my preceding paragraph rings truer than ever, with one word changed: Replace “Sue” with “Wadsworth”. Future comments will give reasons for this switch of names. What we know for certain is that ED and Reverend Wadsworth corresponded for more than 20 years, beginning in 1858, and that he visited ED in Amherst at least twice, in March 1860, when ED was 29 and Wadsworth 46, and again in 1880, two years before his death, six before hers. Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-72087350226230906982023-01-29T16:06:15.176-08:002023-01-29T16:06:15.176-08:00Throughout the night two shipwrecked swimmers wres...Throughout the night two shipwrecked swimmers wrestled for a floating spar. At dawn one turned smiling toward the shore; the other cried “Oh God”, then drowned. We don’t know whether the smiling swimmer reached land, but ED used a similar wrestling scene between Jacob and God in ‘A little East of Jordan’ (F145,1860), which may have spawned ‘Two swimmers wrestled on the spar’ (F227, 1861). <br /><br />An uncommented scenario is that both swimmers are ED, one wishing for a dreamed of life with Sue and the other committing, instead, to a marriage with poetry, one doomed and one possibly happy if only she can make it to shore.Larry Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-12890138980282230532019-04-12T08:15:02.913-07:002019-04-12T08:15:02.913-07:00I think both parties would have ended up drowning....I think both parties would have ended up drowning. Here, one is saved. It may be that land represents safety and conformity and so swimming to it represents a rejection of passion, depth, and mystery, but very few of us can survive in such a sea. Your thought of 'instinct' is useful here. Perhaps to one, shore is a sort of death, while to the other it is safety and sanity.<br />Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-71744065622673239592019-04-12T05:36:40.229-07:002019-04-12T05:36:40.229-07:00There is no stronger of the two-- you are so wrong...There is no stronger of the two-- you are so wrong. But the one that turns violates a trust between the two and the "other one!!!!!!!" drowns on account of this betrayal. Selfishness, ego and instinct is involved here.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06470074352192401339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-47989273723797914422019-01-26T09:48:23.039-08:002019-01-26T09:48:23.039-08:00They were complimenting one another to accomplish ...They were complimenting one another to accomplish survival.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06470074352192401339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-57647592175260815332019-01-26T09:46:55.047-08:002019-01-26T09:46:55.047-08:00Wrestling on the spar--- they were trying to balan...Wrestling on the spar--- they were trying to balance with each other on the spar to stay afloat and hence stay alive.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06470074352192401339noreply@blogger.com