tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post1351410506355413500..comments2024-03-29T06:02:33.720-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: I never felt at Home – Below –Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-8825993178700580542023-09-03T14:19:18.575-07:002023-09-03T14:19:18.575-07:00Apologies again, it's the excitement : Larry B...Apologies again, it's the excitement : Larry BAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-14050293032182717342023-09-03T14:10:47.262-07:002023-09-03T14:10:47.262-07:00Every stanza of ‘I never felt at Home – Below’, es...<br />Every stanza of ‘I never felt at Home – Below’, especially Stanza 4, reassures us that ED can crack jokes about God:<br /><br />Stanza 1: “I don’t like Paradise”<br />Stanza 2: “Recess – never comes –“<br />Stanza 3: “If God ever . . . took a nap”<br />Stanza 4:<br /><br />“Myself would run away<br />From Him – and Holy Ghost – and All –<br />But there's the "Judgement Day"!<br /><br />That final line feigns serious, but in context screams “Facetious! I’m joking!” <br /><br />Indeed, she has made clear in the last few poems she’s inurned to the possibility that at end of life the lights go out “And there, the Matter Ends –”:<br /><br />F435<br />“Might some one else – so learned – be –<br />And leave me – just my A – B – C –<br />Himself – could have the Skies–”<br /><br />F433<br /><br />So go your Way [to Heaven]– and I'll go Mine –<br />[There’s] No fear you'll miss the Road.<br /><br />F432<br /><br />“I made my soul familiar – with her extremity –<br />That at the last, it should not be a novel Agony –<br />But she, and Death, acquainted –<br />Meet tranquilly, as friends –<br />Salute, and pass, without a Hint –<br />And there, the Matter Ends –”<br /><br />Unlike Hamlet, ED sounds doubtful she'll ever roast in infidel Hell.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-58661772349631035942020-08-25T06:16:02.025-07:002020-08-25T06:16:02.025-07:00In the bardo - between death and destination.In the bardo - between death and destination.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01736205809150418122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-73419956531759420942015-03-09T05:19:00.826-07:002015-03-09T05:19:00.826-07:00She's wrestling with the whole theology bequea...She's wrestling with the whole theology bequeathed to her, able to free herself from some of its holds in various poems, but, ultimately unable to step out of the ring. Except from the dwelling place of no place many of her poems express the insights from, which, beside her own poetry, she had no other theology to describe it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-31855318096742735792014-05-25T09:39:24.146-07:002014-05-25T09:39:24.146-07:00I like very much your insight that this is written...I like very much your insight that this is written in an 'impish, childish voice'. I also liked the visual image you chose. The panoptican image adds a modern twist to the poem. Thank you. Riverwomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03302739221107883656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-87534932089160531652013-04-06T11:55:47.248-07:002013-04-06T11:55:47.248-07:00Thanks - when I had the Panopticon image it recast...Thanks - when I had the Panopticon image it recast the poem in a very different light to me.<br />btw, I just updated the post to include the paragraph I somehow left out during the cut and paste part.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-28277933614951160922013-04-06T11:35:14.696-07:002013-04-06T11:35:14.696-07:00 I like Panopticon, by the way! I like Panopticon, by the way!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-59597792639561032082013-04-06T11:33:44.558-07:002013-04-06T11:33:44.558-07:00You probably have the best reading of this.
... You probably have the best reading of this.<br /><br /> The only thing that slows me down is the odd use of the tenses in the first stanza. "I never felt at Home -- Below" is delivered by the speaker from the perspective of heaven -- looking down in the past tense at her life "Below". Then "I shall not feel at Home -- I know -- I don't like Paradise" is delivered in the future tense -- by a speaker who is not in heaven. <br /><br /> So, where is the speaker? It occurred to me that "there's the Judgement Day" might be where the speaker stands. But I haven't convinced myself. It seems the word <br />"But" in the last line makes your interpretation the better one. <br /><br /> Not her best poem -- but with some fun words "Handsome Skies", God as a "Telescope".<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com