tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post4181720935142725716..comments2024-03-29T00:07:13.458-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: To interrupt His Yellow PlanSusan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-81465753212925965462024-01-19T12:41:06.002-08:002024-01-19T12:41:06.002-08:00ED uses the word “sun” in her poems 160 times (Joh...ED uses the word “sun” in her poems 160 times (Johnson, 1960, 1775 poems), never in the feminine gender as do all Germanic languages, e.g., "Die Sonne scheint". Her choice seems strange since Line 10’s “to stimulate the Earth” implies “warm” or “nurture”. In this poem, as in many, ED identifies the Sun’s gender as masculine, “Tis His to stimulate the Earth”. Could her mother’s cool personality play a role here, or is ED simply stuck in Romance languages? Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-31877211944362152122024-01-18T17:57:24.777-08:002024-01-18T17:57:24.777-08:00Entomology: There are 250 species worldwide in the...Entomology: There are 250 species worldwide in the bumblebee genus, Bombus. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee)<br /><br />Etymology: < French bombe, < Spanish bomba , probably < bombo ‘a bumming or humming noise’ < Latin bombus. (Thanks Dan, 1/12/2016)Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-43064738719480905412024-01-18T14:27:36.564-08:002024-01-18T14:27:36.564-08:00William of Ockham (1285 – 1347) recommends searchi...William of Ockham (1285 – 1347) recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements.<br /><br />'Tis His to stimulate the Earth —”: Sun’s cycles spur spring flowers, ripen summer hay, paint autumn leaves red, shape winter snow.<br /><br />“And magnetize the Sea —”: Sun’s pull tugs oceans into tides.<br /><br />“And bind Astronomy, in place”: Sun’s gravity binds planets in their place.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-66212512154605811062024-01-18T14:23:47.976-08:002024-01-18T14:23:47.976-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-128725291400961092023-11-25T09:14:30.089-08:002023-11-25T09:14:30.089-08:00I love your insights here and the explication. I&#...I love your insights here and the explication. I'd gone a bit over the top ... <br />The cannon's yellow eye is from poem F619 - three poems previous to this one. Great reference -- thank you!Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-54865814917224519642023-11-25T09:02:23.563-08:002023-11-25T09:02:23.563-08:00Yes. I agree. Rereading my commentary now I'm ...Yes. I agree. Rereading my commentary now I'm wondering where in the heck I got the extraterrestrial idea. Neither do I now think that 'bomb' is meant to conjure up the horrors of war, but is instead simply a contrast to 'buzz', as human busyness is contrasted to the sun's magisterial cosmic duties. Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-12317182796466510512023-11-24T19:17:17.590-08:002023-11-24T19:17:17.590-08:00The color yellow in the poem previous to this one ...The color yellow in the poem previous to this one in the fascicle was the color of the eye of the cannon. Here we have something else intensely yellow, it is the "plan" of the sun. <br />The yellow of the sun's plan is very different than that of the cannon's yellow though. It is steady, majestic, imperturbable. <br /><br />The sun, which so grandly "stimulates the earth, magnetizes the sea, and binds together astronomy", is our role model here. The sun does this through absolute focus and calm. No snow ball in the eye from "Vicious Boy" could disturb it. Oy, that Vicious Boy! The busy bee might be eviscerated by that Vicious Boy, but not the sun!<br /><br />As opposed to this stoic sun, though, we... <br /><br />"Would deem Ourselves — the busier<br />As the minutest Bee<br />That rides — emits a Thunder —<br />A Bomb — to justify —"<br /><br />I take this to mean that we, who do so much less than the sun, ironically consider ourselves "busier" than the sun and thunder along (the thunder a tiny buzz, really, like a tiny bee's, our "thunder", our sound and fury). Our busy-ness (business) justifies our violence. Yes, war comes to mind with that "bomb", and war is part of it, tied in with our busy "ambition", but all of our explosive, bomb-like foibles could be explained away, perhaps, by our self important desire toward business, toward hurrying itself. <br /><br />I love this as a "counter" to the Watt's poem. (Good find btw). In the Watt's poem it is idle hands that are of the devil. In the Dickinson poem it is busy hands that are of the devil. <br /><br />I'm reminded here of my dad's advice, that to hurry is not just of the devil, it IS the devil. <br /><br /><br /><br />d scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08242682202760522439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-56324434135581423892022-10-10T09:09:17.601-07:002022-10-10T09:09:17.601-07:00To add to the conversation, I found at thefreedict...To add to the conversation, I found at thefreedictionary.com that magnetize means to charm or influence. I also found in Webster's 1828 online, that "bomb" means "to sound", in addition to explosives.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-42535653874410681582017-01-12T14:51:35.015-08:002017-01-12T14:51:35.015-08:00In thinking the last stanza over in light of the v...In thinking the last stanza over in light of the various comments, I think it serves to complete the sense of perspective: The sun is grand and god-like. Everything else is puny by comparison. We humans, like busy, buzzing bees, make a lot of noise to justify our sense of self importance. Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-80542099247159321522017-01-09T19:00:38.794-08:002017-01-09T19:00:38.794-08:00I may be approaching this way too simplistically, ...I may be approaching this way too simplistically, but I see the end of this poem simply as man, the passer by, over emphasizing his own significance in relation to the sun. Think Shakespeare, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10047678873938396282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-71991894676092168232016-01-31T06:02:57.500-08:002016-01-31T06:02:57.500-08:00A startling phrase, indeed. You both point out pos...A startling phrase, indeed. You both point out positive associations (attraction, warmth, responding living beings), but there could be negative associations, too: warming, ice melting, waves of flood. <br /><br />If we do not reject the phrase as an obsolete or doubtful image, guided by our “modern” science-influenced way of thinking – could there be in ED’s world view a fully intended individual use of “magnetize”? Beyond the meanings ‘make a magnet of’ and ‘attract as a magnet’. <br /><br />Is there a parallel between the phrases “magnetize the Sea” and “bind Astronomy, in place? (Astronomy, obviously, as the astronomers’ celestial objects; leaving aside the variant “from blame”.) Could there be an intended meaning like: keep the sea in place, so to speak, keep it magnetized to the ground? (Cf. EDL.) Or do I bring too much logical thinking in? (D. Wirth)<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-83666857936522527522016-01-20T16:25:07.209-08:002016-01-20T16:25:07.209-08:00Yes, I like what you say about attraction. The war...Yes, I like what you say about attraction. The warm magnetism of the Sun magnetizes the sea. Lovely, thanks.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-5604398434448283992016-01-20T11:55:03.286-08:002016-01-20T11:55:03.286-08:00Dear Mrs Kornfeld, in the German edition of ED’s c...Dear Mrs Kornfeld, in the German edition of ED’s complete poems (2015), translated by Gunhild Kübler, the last line of the poem „To interrupt...“ appears as: [Donnern] Das einer Bombe ziemte = engl. [Thunder] That would befit (suit) a bomb. Such a wording is strange German and based on a strange reading.<br /><br />You write: #Do we humans, or at least Americans at the time she was writing, believe that battles justify the victors? It’s a sad and timely commentary, if so.# Really: Battles justify the victors? Or the other way round: battles are (afterwards) justified in the case of some final victory? That is: A bomb is justified by the fact of a victory? Can this be expressed by the last line?<br /><br />If „justify“ has its common meaning, then it is a four-place predicate: Someone justifies something to someone (else) by pointing out sth. (or the like). With the variant: Sth. (...) justifies something in the eyes of someone. A minimal reading of the line „A Bomb – to justify –“ would be: There is the fact of a bomb which can justify something in the eyes of someone.<br /><br />Could the justified ‘thing’ be simply Any’s deeming (reasoning) that we are busier than that bee? (Cf. in a similar meaning: A bomb to argue by.)<br /><br />With kind regards, <br />Dieter Wirth (Regensburg, Germany)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-54451538704153883782016-01-12T14:17:51.777-08:002016-01-12T14:17:51.777-08:00First, thank you for your site and the loving work...First, thank you for your site and the loving work it entails. Second, I think the last line gets an additional valence if we remember this "Etymology: < French bombe, < Spanish bomba , probably < bombo ‘a bumming or humming noise’ < Latin bombus. The word is thus ultimately identical with boom." This is the bee's buzz in part, loud against an otherwise silent day (like the fly's buzz in "I heard.." but in the opposite direction in her menagerie of ululations). Here she plays with time as she does with size ("Yet small – she sighs – if all – is all – " were small is bigger than all typographically) and thus -- as with Christ -- sun/son -- the "eye" of the heavens -- is as unmoving not a paradise but an non-vital exception (Stevens capture this in "Sunday Morning") and the death of a god considered as outside her ongoing creation (Spinoza "Deus Sive Natura"). Thus the last line is elliptical and passes the poem to the reader( "poets light but lamps").danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14642492987800004770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-16613020585706088292016-01-10T10:09:30.705-08:002016-01-10T10:09:30.705-08:00"[M]agnetize the Sea" is a startling phr... "[M]agnetize the Sea" is a startling phrase. It recalls the effects of the Sun (and moon) on the seas -- the tides. The sun also warms the seas and creates currents. It could also simply mean attraction -- how the seas and all the life of the seas responds to the warmth of the Sun. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com