tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post3377362192563311710..comments2024-03-27T11:02:20.107-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: More Life – went out – when He went Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-4046484356037012482023-08-10T13:08:49.957-07:002023-08-10T13:08:49.957-07:00“He” is Reverend Charles Wadsworth, the love of ED...“He” is Reverend Charles Wadsworth, the love of ED’s life. Wadsworth’s skill at preaching was legendary. As she says, he was “Lit with a finer Phosphor”. Wadsworth and family moved from Philadelphia to San Francisco in June 1862. Franklin dates this poem “about autumn 1862”.<br /><br />“In February 1850, after a decade of decline and waning membership numbers, Arch Street Presbyterian Church called Charles Wadsworth as its pastor. Wadsworth served for thirteen years, and the congregation grew rapidly, often filling the sanctuary an hour before services began.”<br />(https://archstreetpres.org/welcome/history/arch-street-full-history/). ED heard him preach in March 1855.<br /><br />Their “correspondence began in 1858, when Dickinson asked Wadsworth for counsel concerning her mother's illness. She had also been sent a copy of one of his sermons earlier in the year. It is known that Dickinson's letters to Wadsworth were forwarded to him by her friend Mary Holland.”<br /><br />“Wadsworth moved to San Francisco in 1862 to take up a pastorate there. Wadsworth may have mentioned to [ED] the previous year of his plans to relocate, and it is believed that Dickinson wore white dresses only, commencing in 1861 and continuing the remainder of her life” (https://waynepres.org/article/the-story-of-emily-dickinson-and-rev-charles-wadsworth/). <br /><br />In her second letter to Higginson (L261, 25 April 1862), ED told Higginson “I had a terror-since September-I could tell to none-and so I sing [write poems], as the Boy does by the Burying Ground-because I am afraid”.<br /><br />‘More Life – went out – when He went’ (F415, 1862) describes Wadsworth’s charisma, at least in her mind, and justifies, again in her mind, why she remained faithful to him until their deaths, in 1882 and 1886.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-41291236932184823072023-08-09T17:17:32.192-07:002023-08-09T17:17:32.192-07:00"I wish I could see the original to see if th..."I wish I could see the original to see if that might just possibly be a period after scarlets and before Choose."<br /><br />The easy call is Susan's "little dash", which is ED's cross mark of "t" in "scarlets". <br /><br />The "little dot" is a tough and probably arbitrary call. In the manuscript there is virtually no difference among the "little dot" after "scarlets", the 'period' after Stanza 3, and the 'dash' after "Choose", which ends the poem.<br /><br />There are no periods in the three preceding or three succeeding poems, only dashes or exclamation marks. <br /><br />Were it my call, based on ED's nearby proclivities I would put dashes in all three locations in F415. The effect on meaning at the poem's end would be similar the pause of a period, which Anonymous (1/20/23) suggested.<br /><br /><br />BTW, Franklin (1998) copied exactly Johnson's (1955) punctuation.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-22712594656998528812023-08-09T16:23:53.737-07:002023-08-09T16:23:53.737-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-18531377368825508552023-01-21T09:06:26.638-08:002023-01-21T09:06:26.638-08:00My books all have a comma before 'Choose' ...My books all have a comma before 'Choose' -- but when I look at the manuscript image I see a little dash and a little period beneath it -- which is perhaps a dashed off comma. Comma vs. period is a significant contrast in meanings. <br />https://www.emilydickinson.org/emily-dickinson-lyrical-ecologies-forays-into-the-field/dickinson-transplantation-of-citizenship-in-the-earth-an-unsilencingSusan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-41488706185862281082023-01-20T13:36:13.153-08:002023-01-20T13:36:13.153-08:00I wish I could see the original to see if that mig...I wish I could see the original to see if that might just possibly be a period after scarlets and before Choose. I like to think she is calling on the reader to choose between the two, that it is something you can choose. This one seems to be continuing the thought from a few poems back in the fascicle, another poem contrasting hot temperaments in cold temperatures and vice versa. <br /><br />A shady friend—for Torrid days—<br />Is easier to find—<br />Than one of higher temperature<br />For Frigid—hour of Mind—<br /><br />The Vane a little to the East—<br />Scares Muslin souls—away—<br />If Broadcloth Hearts are firmer—<br />Than those of Organdy—<br /><br />Who is to blame? The Weaver?<br />Ah, the bewildering thread!<br />The Tapestries of Paradise<br />So notelessly—are made!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-4959483858481870272020-08-17T05:42:42.638-07:002020-08-17T05:42:42.638-07:00I wonder who “He” was? Fraser Stearns again? Or is...I wonder who “He” was? Fraser Stearns again? Or is this just an opportunity to comment on how some people burn brighter than others?Pphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01023162636086533197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-22736672297360582542015-02-26T05:27:27.559-08:002015-02-26T05:27:27.559-08:00I wonder, also if the Choose in the last line does...I wonder, also if the Choose in the last line doesn't refer to the volcanoes choosing who is great and who is not; forces beyond us determining us.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-65529618925773079512015-02-26T05:24:04.370-08:002015-02-26T05:24:04.370-08:00Reminds me of Thomas McGrath's wonderful poem ...Reminds me of Thomas McGrath's wonderful poem A Coal Fire in Winter.<br /><br />Thanks, Susan, for your daily diligence.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-51075014836743976912013-11-15T13:56:18.834-08:002013-11-15T13:56:18.834-08:00This has really saved me when taking an Emily Dick...This has really saved me when taking an Emily Dickinson class at University. I am able to read through the poems and try to draw my own conclusions, but then I read yours and suddenly, it all makes sense! Keep doing this!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-12353277347736232602013-02-04T21:50:55.272-08:002013-02-04T21:50:55.272-08:00Thanks, Alex! I love YA fiction--so cool to have E...Thanks, Alex! I love YA fiction--so cool to have Emily in some. Might I ask what title(s)?? - SusanSusan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-19980500916147376262013-02-04T19:10:04.661-08:002013-02-04T19:10:04.661-08:00Just found your blog, I'm a writer, just publi...Just found your blog, I'm a writer, just published a middle grade/ya fiction novel with the poems of Emily Dickinson, not the most popular thing with that demographic these days, but the words need to be heard, enjoy the weekAlex Marestainghttp://www.alexmarestaing.comnoreply@blogger.com