tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post43196472263765511..comments2024-03-29T06:02:33.720-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: Could I – then – shut the door –Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-20652140884237262952022-12-19T16:20:24.817-08:002022-12-19T16:20:24.817-08:00Johnson and Franklin date this short poem as 1861....Johnson and Franklin date this short poem as 1861. On June 19, 1861, Susan and Austin’s first child, Edward (Ned) Dickinson, was born. In September or October 1861 Susan Dickinson wrote Emily, <br /><br />“I have intended to write you Emily to-day but the quiet has not been mine—I send you this, lest I should seem to have turned away from a kiss— <br /><br />“If you have suffered this past Summer—I am sorry—[for] I Emily bear a sorrow that I never uncover—If a nightingale sings with her breast against a thorn, why not we? When I can, I shall write— <br /><br />“Sue”<br /><br />This is the only extant note from Sue to Emily that is about personal matters. (An unanswered question: Out of the many letters from Sue to Emily that Lavinia burned, why did she save this note?)<br /><br />It’s likely this note is Sue’s reply to ED’s short ‘Could I – then – shut the door’, an attempt to explain to ED why Sue has seemed so distant. Apparently, ED’s psyche wasn’t prepared for Sue’s understandable focus on her new first-born, and she subconsciously interpreted Sue’s lack of attention as the death of their relationship. Some first-time fathers may have similar feelings about their newly post-natal wives.<br /><br />Habegger, Alfred. My Wars Are Laid Away in Books (p. 525). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.com