tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post7229942184750672575..comments2024-03-29T00:07:13.458-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: A poor—torn heart—a tattered heart—Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-60004242978781362692023-12-16T07:29:26.566-08:002023-12-16T07:29:26.566-08:00If this poem is satire, my wife and I missed it. ...If this poem is satire, my wife and I missed it. That surprises me because I have a hard heart and, of all of Dickens’ novels, I have the hardest time with The Old Curiosity Shop. I was wondering about the angels and God bit. I don’t think Dickinson was an antagonistic atheist. But she seldom came so close to conventional Christian notions. The garbled metaphor-making should be or could be a tip off that the poem is satirical. But it also could be a poem about a very depressed person finding some solace. That it is from such an early period, 1858, leads me to think it is, probably, something of an inside joke.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-84552394458729075342023-07-31T13:12:29.029-07:002023-07-31T13:12:29.029-07:00"The last three lines return to the boat meta..."The last three lines return to the boat metaphor. The “blue havens” or heaven take the “wandering Sails” “by the hand” to save them from “the gales.” No, it doesn’t work. Not only would it be hard to take a sail by the hand, but the havens are taking the sails to the haven!"<br /><br />Ahem. Boat metaphor, yes, but also two lovely puns. In Stanza 2 ED says the angels carried this dusty heart to God—, "There—gathered from the gales— / Do the blue heavens by the hand / Lead the wandering Souls."<br /><br />Treacly, yes, but it warms the cockles of the unhardened heart. ED's father, Edward, loved Dickens, and that made this poem important to her. (Paragraph 2 of 9/24/22 comment above.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-27222000655563521372022-09-24T15:03:45.850-07:002022-09-24T15:03:45.850-07:00The two purloined pictures that ED attached to the...The two purloined pictures that ED attached to the penciled poem copy to Susan D showed (1) a sad Little Nell sitting in a graveyard with an old man [her grandfather?] kissing her hand and (2) three angels carrying Little Nell through clouds to heaven while a fourth angel sitting beside them plays a harp. I hope ED asked her father before mutilating his copy of The Old Curiosity Shop.<br /><br />Susan K’s hope for ED’s high standards of ironic humor notwithstanding, my observations of intelligent female acquaintances hanging onto every sob of melodrama in The Bachelorettes convince me that ED suspended disbelief while reading Dicken’s tearjerker, published in 1841. She knows Dickens squeezes tears out of dry rags, but for one brief shameless moment she lets her hair down and writes this 1859 poem in response. I suspect ED might identify with Little Nell just a tiny little bit.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-71685391493023889172020-09-03T20:33:26.526-07:002020-09-03T20:33:26.526-07:00mcjeeps interpretation above might be a better one...mcjeeps interpretation above might be a better one. But still, Dickinson had a playful side and the inclusion of the picture when she sent the poem to Sue just struck me as sort of an inside joke between the two of them. But I was, perhaps, a bit harsh on it.<br />Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-23955316344596739202020-09-03T19:27:19.049-07:002020-09-03T19:27:19.049-07:00This interpretation doesn't feel like "Em...This interpretation doesn't feel like "Emily Dickinson" to me. It's too cold and harsh. Her poems are soothing even when it's heavy it's soothing to the heart and mind which I didn't find here.Anishahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12505723306496012178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-23855889287050136852017-01-15T08:10:28.996-08:002017-01-15T08:10:28.996-08:00Re-reading this poem I'm surprised by my own v...Re-reading this poem I'm surprised by my own vehemence. It might indeed be sincere. Dickinson had both the Victorian appetite for schmaltz about children -- but she also had a sharp wit and a gift for irony and even sarcasm that she was willing to wield. So I recant and say that this poem *might* be ironical, a spoof, etc. Thanks for drawing my attention to it.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-2345008004274161852017-01-14T21:24:23.733-08:002017-01-14T21:24:23.733-08:00Even with your interpretation, I think that this c...Even with your interpretation, I think that this could still be a tender description of little nell's resurrection. You would know better than me, would Dickinson most likely write with empathy or with sarcasm?mcjeepshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15354406129562154763noreply@blogger.com