tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post2081755079000660512..comments2024-03-27T11:02:20.107-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: 'Twas such a little – little boatSusan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-70258403776871956442022-11-06T06:51:10.751-08:002022-11-06T06:51:10.751-08:00Surely, ‘Twas such a little – little boat’ isn’t s...Surely, ‘Twas such a little – little boat’ isn’t simply self-pity, though that’s a possibility. Maybe the last two lines, “Nor ever guessed the stately sails / My little craft was lost!” express ED’s disappointment with Papa God for ignoring a naïve 16-year-old’s painful search for faith at Mt. Holyoke Seminary for Women.<br /><br />ED had graduated from Amherst Academy in June 1847. Her father, Edward, felt she needed another year of schooling and enrolled her at Mt. Holyoke, a new women’s seminary school 9 miles south of Amherst. In August, he drove her in an open buggy down the country lane ('Twas such a “little – little boat / That toddled down the bay!), passing through the scary, to ED at least, Devil’s Garden Pass in the Holyoke Mountain range ( ‘Through lane it lay’, F43, 1958, Comment 4). <br /><br />The Seminary had sounded like a “gallant-gallant” place when her father had described back home, but now, standing at the front entrance, alone for the first time in her life, Holyoke Seminary felt like a “greedy, greedy” overwhelming wave. Her letters home sounded happy; ED never mentioned her headmistress’s weekly grilling in front of classmates, unsuccessfully trying to coax Emily to accept Christ as her savior. Finally, after 8 months, Emily couldn’t take it anymore. She wrote home, asking her father to come get her. <br /><br />He sent Austin instead.<br />Larry Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-5846712844941538272022-10-01T16:07:55.445-07:002022-10-01T16:07:55.445-07:00Yes, but then there's the sad second stanza......Yes, but then there's the sad second stanza...<br />Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-75939128712972241582022-10-01T09:04:05.618-07:002022-10-01T09:04:05.618-07:00I was intrigued by the use of the word gallant and...I was intrigued by the use of the word gallant and think it to mean chivalrous rather than dangerously tempting. A chivalrous sea inviting a little boat, encouragement for any timid endeavor.Amitnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-35552673847358083792021-08-19T08:24:44.576-07:002021-08-19T08:24:44.576-07:00Thank you for this. It does fit.Thank you for this. It does fit.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-81480917268422882822021-08-12T11:03:56.264-07:002021-08-12T11:03:56.264-07:00Since this poem follows 106, which eludes to not b...Since this poem follows 106, which eludes to not being able to take a chance on love, because the man in question is married, but then ED is safe from having to take a chance, because if one does poem 107 can happen.<br />I'm not saying your take is wrong, but it seems too coincidental the two poems together.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00725261030659667439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-46941793622389850832020-10-09T10:42:38.899-07:002020-10-09T10:42:38.899-07:00Thank you for these insights! I'm currently cr...Thank you for these insights! I'm currently creating a poetry program for my oral interpretation class. I chose to present poems by Emily Dickinson and this poem is one of them, so these thoughts were useful for thinking more about the poem's meaning.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com