tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post2647099973173385604..comments2024-03-29T00:07:13.458-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: I think I was enchantedSusan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-90953864221622825532024-01-21T14:39:35.353-08:002024-01-21T14:39:35.353-08:00What a biography, atypically long poem, complex be...What a biography, atypically long poem, complex beyond ED’s trademarks, happy as her happiest, full of mystical allusions, sweet after so much pain. ‘I think I was enchanted’ feels like a turning point. Or is it a passing manic among hills and valleys? ED lures us on: stay tuned for another addictive episode.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-70708555782920074292023-11-27T18:18:57.753-08:002023-11-27T18:18:57.753-08:00Beautiful essay, Susan. The poem is a wonder, and ...Beautiful essay, Susan. The poem is a wonder, and this does it justice. It reminds me a bit of some writing Emily did on the back of some wallpaper which I saw at the Morgan library exhibition of her work: <br /><br />"Did you ever <br />read one of <br />her Poems back — <br />ward, because <br />the plunge from <br />the front over — <br />turned you? <br />I sometimes <br />often have <br />many times have — <br />A something overtakes the <br />Mind"<br /><br />Perhaps ED wrote this about EBB too, but of course we can't help but read it and think about her own poetry. <br /><br />This idea of the conversion (overtaking) of the mind that cannot be explained, but only witnessed, is a rich one, and so is the thought that when you are in danger of sanity you can turn to tomes of solid witchcraft, culminating in the wonderful truth that in poetry there is a magic that outlives the magician. A Lunacy of Light! There are other instances where ED identifies with magic and witches, and it always leaves me in wonder. <br /><br />"The Days — to Mighty Metres stept"<br />d scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08242682202760522439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-15568992880814653092021-07-30T18:07:55.037-07:002021-07-30T18:07:55.037-07:00Well, you shouldn't have 'fessed up to the...Well, you shouldn't have 'fessed up to the English teacher bit ...Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-11191635969208429412021-07-30T18:07:30.721-07:002021-07-30T18:07:30.721-07:00Thanks. It's always so juicy reading about Mab...Thanks. It's always so juicy reading about Mabel ... amazing woman! And her husband, too. I'd love to know more about what what it was about Austin that inspired so much devotion from both Emily and Mabel.<br />Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-6515303228158764182021-07-30T15:33:13.086-07:002021-07-30T15:33:13.086-07:00"Dickinson!" I'm an English teacher..."Dickinson!" I'm an English teacher and hate not catching errors when I proofread!<br /><br />MartyMarty Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10239361073611621614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-91157306714411186202021-07-30T11:41:49.914-07:002021-07-30T11:41:49.914-07:00We really liked "After Emily" by Julie D...We really liked "After Emily" by Julie Dobrow about Mabel Loomis Todd and her daughter Millicent Todd Bingham and Mabel's relationship with Austin Dickinson--and through him to Emily and publishing her poems. We're also really liking "These Fevered Days" by Martha Ackmann. Both books give interesting perspectives on Emily and her work. Our meetings are rich with a discussion of three poems each month and the chapters we are reading about Emily. <br /><br />Thanks again for your work and the support it provides to those of us who love Emily Dickson's poems.Marty Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10239361073611621614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-62111946970319742802021-07-28T22:11:16.257-07:002021-07-28T22:11:16.257-07:00Thank you, Marty. How fortunate your ED group! Whi...Thank you, Marty. How fortunate your ED group! Which books about Dickinson have you found most valuable?Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-59355021109862735192021-07-28T10:48:55.951-07:002021-07-28T10:48:55.951-07:00Thank you, Susan Kornfeld!
Your analysis of this ...Thank you, Susan Kornfeld!<br /><br />Your analysis of this poem was helpful to me as I prepared to discuss it at our Emily Dickinson group. Three of us meet monthly to discuss Emily's poems and a chapter of whatever book we are reading about the poet, "These Fevered Days" by Martha Ackmann right now. I often go to "The Prowling Bee" to read your interpretations of Emily's poems. I should have written sooner to thank you for your careful analysis of each poem. I loved this one. Marty MarshMarty Marshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10239361073611621614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-34840352126799832202017-01-25T14:14:04.730-08:002017-01-25T14:14:04.730-08:00Another example of ED's brilliance is that she...Another example of ED's brilliance is that she conveys abstract thoughts with an economy of words that is breathtaking. In this poem, I love the first two lines of the second stanza, in which she is bending and twisting time effortlessly. She is describing our reaction to her own poems; maybe she saw that coming too!mcjeepshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15354406129562154763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-55709295169529602972016-11-09T17:42:03.013-08:002016-11-09T17:42:03.013-08:00Thank you, Lee! I had never read this poem before ...Thank you, Lee! I had never read this poem before coming across it in this sequence. I loved it immediately. I like the pensiveness of it.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-63429395344934375782016-11-09T16:03:02.648-08:002016-11-09T16:03:02.648-08:00I love this poem: the imagery, the figures of spe...I love this poem: the imagery, the figures of speech, and of course everyone likes reading about being magically transported by beauty and inspiration. <br />For the same reasons your explication is beautiful and a pleasure to read. Your blog is a laudable enterprise, valuable to me as a follower. I'm gratified to have discovered this site. <br />Lee SilverwoodAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-36693676392508995482016-10-31T21:58:20.330-07:002016-10-31T21:58:20.330-07:00Thank you - I particularly like your depiction of ...Thank you - I particularly like your depiction of the dream progression. <br /><br />As an aside: I think the opening of this poem, the first stanza, is one of my favorites among Dickinson's opus. And I say that believing that one of Dickinson's many strengths is her opening lines. In this case the rest of the poem seems to follow organically. Unlike many of her poems there isn't a searing and startling line that suddenly transforms the poem. You can see Robert Frost as a sombre boy reading the lines.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-18139417761262869792016-10-31T17:14:46.584-07:002016-10-31T17:14:46.584-07:00Your essay explains well this difficult poem.
... Your essay explains well this difficult poem.<br /><br /> Elizabeth Barrett Browning died in June, 1861 -- so I your thoughts on "Magicians be asleep" seem right to me. <br /><br /> Several competing metaphors run through the poem. The first is magic contrasted to mundane, ordinary reality ("enchanted" v. "somber", "Giants / Titanic opera" v. "meanest Tunes", "Solid Witchcraft", "Magicians", "Magic".<br /><br /> The second is sanity contrasted to insanity. But here, sanity is on the side of the Dark ("noon at night" and insanity is linked with images of daylight and rationality ("Lunacy of Light", something beyond words -- "I had not power to tell"). Later in the poem this insanity is a positive ("Divine Insanity") and sanity / rationality is a "danger" that threatens to reverse the transformation described in the poem.<br /><br /> The third is spiritual transformation -- a dream-like metamorphosis. Noon becomes night, bees (an image of industriousness) become butterflies (image of transformation) become swans (image of beauty). The change is a "Conversion", blessing or "Sanctifying" the soul. Noon becomes "Heaven". Insanity becomes divine -- with an element "like Deity". <br /><br /> It is such a beautiful poem. Homely days are anthropomorphized into "Giants" with "Mighty Metres stept". The poet lacks the "power to tell" -- what is experienced is "witnessed -- not explained". the experience is "suddenly confirmed" but not graspable by reason. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com