tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post8832883219605930827..comments2024-03-29T06:02:33.720-07:00Comments on the prowling Bee: I like to see it lap the Miles —Susan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-81030106397254545762023-07-13T15:14:50.811-07:002023-07-13T15:14:50.811-07:00Vendler’s various levels of meaning omit the impor...Vendler’s various levels of meaning omit the important one that “d scribe” nailed above:<br /><br />In 1862, ED watched technology give capitalists power to enhance and/or pervert her home town. Every afternoon a screaming iron horse announced its arrival in Amherst, bringing Irish beggars and blueblood scions. Docile, yes, to a limit; impotent, no, a misread; omnipotent, apparently.<br /><br />Yesterday an iron horse, today AI, tomorrow ?? <br /><br />This morning’s weekly ‘Nature’ magazine, Britain’s equal to America’s weekly ‘Science’, announced AI has used a database of scientific information to write a credible, insightful, publishable scientific report. The atom bomb pales before AI. <br /><br />What’s next?<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-23248831599001188592023-07-10T16:10:10.269-07:002023-07-10T16:10:10.269-07:00The hook of the poem: When first reading the last ...The hook of the poem: When first reading the last stanza, my speed-reading brain saw "Stop — docile and impotent / At its own stable door —". Then, immediately, a bright light flashed in another brain, "I've just been hooked and almost missed it." <br /><br />I'm with "d scribe", ED foretells our present, her future. The "train" is omnipotent. Is that a firm statement or an open question? We'll have to ask Emily in the great Bye and Bye.<br /><br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-86280088288110668072023-07-10T15:57:16.386-07:002023-07-10T15:57:16.386-07:00Perhaps ED had read the article about Mr Bell as h...Perhaps ED had read the article about Mr Bell as having a deep, booming voice, but when she referenced “Boanerges”, she was thinking of Reverend Wadsworth whose voice melted her sensitive soul in 1855 and impressed his congregations: <br /><br />“His deep voice and sturdy frame, he was five feet ten inches tall, confirmed his appearance of dynamic power. To many he seemed to possess a strength that was not of this world only” (Whicher, 1938, p 102).Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-73290269669427985012023-07-10T15:52:43.001-07:002023-07-10T15:52:43.001-07:00Note that “supercilious” is not an adverb modifyin...Note that “supercilious” is not an adverb modifying “peer”, it is an adjective modifying “it”, the train, and no, ED did not accidentally leave out the “ly”.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-25626194891170107772023-07-10T15:26:04.923-07:002023-07-10T15:26:04.923-07:00If I could, I would ask ED, “How did you do this a...If I could, I would ask ED, “How did you do this at the pace you’re setting? No one since Mozart (died 39) and Schubert (died 31) turned out such gems at your pace. All I have to give is awe.”Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-68941955828544427722023-07-10T14:10:08.370-07:002023-07-10T14:10:08.370-07:00Thank 'you' Larry. I figured out how to ma...Thank 'you' Larry. I figured out how to make the poem number change in the new editing configuration: Just read through the code stuff until I see a date! Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-73477604075742815832023-07-09T17:04:48.574-07:002023-07-09T17:04:48.574-07:00'I like to see it lap the Miles —', labele...'I like to see it lap the Miles —', labeled here as F382, is actually F383. <br /><br />The real F382, 'Good morning—Midnight!' can be found at:<br /> <br />http://bloggingdickinson.blogspot.com/2012/12/good-morningmidnight.html<br /><br />There, 'Good morning—Midnight!' is incorrectly labeled F383, and is actually F382.<br /><br />Bookkeeping F numbers on a recalcitrant, unforgiving website must be an unending midnightmare. Slip-ups must return repeatedly to haunt Susan K, like Arnold in 'The Terminator'. <br /><br />Thank you again Susan. We denizens worship at TPB.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-2463759342261421792023-04-24T20:15:39.583-07:002023-04-24T20:15:39.583-07:00Thanks for pulling out "docile and omnipotent...Thanks for pulling out "docile and omnipotent" for a closer look. The juxtaposition makes me shiver.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-52081585814288355402023-04-24T13:34:34.875-07:002023-04-24T13:34:34.875-07:00Your comparison to a black and white Disney flick ...<br />Your comparison to a black and white Disney flick gave me a good smile. When Walt wakes up from his frozen nap, we'll have to pitch it to him. You've seen his mash up with Dali, right?<br /><br />This one seemed too easy. Too cute. And it IS cute. But I should know by now to look for the clues that take the poem across the great divide. The train of this one took me to a stop in the future Emily could've hardly predicted. The catch for me was in the phrase "docile and omnipotent" because suddenly I was reminded of AI, something we've been thinking a lot about lately. Emily reminds us in the word "docile" that the nearly all powerful bent of the train of technology, which we seem to possess, is a product, completely, of our own will. If AI develops a will for destruction, it will be our will it is mirroring. Hopefully this trial, which feels like it could be tidal -the internet taken to its next exponential leap-- will check the world's ego in a way that will wake it up to its own penchant for self-harm. <br /><br />When I first read it I didn't see the irony in "I like to see". But then on fourth reading, there it is. Who wants to see valleys licked up? And the hooting is horrid!<br /><br />Emily Dickinson, 19th century eco warrior. <br /><br />Not to mention that "supercilious look" into poverty and all that that implies. In this quick aside, she's calling to a check all disparity it seems to me.<br /><br />The cute in this poem is like a trojan horse. This horse is hiding a bemused writer who is quietly, firmly, holding up her pen for justice. Somehow still with us. d scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08242682202760522439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-26845205422193808012023-04-09T20:27:40.872-07:002023-04-09T20:27:40.872-07:00Thanks -- that works for me. The famous battle hor...Thanks -- that works for me. The famous battle horse I'd had in mind was Bucephalus -- Alexander the Great's steed. Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-49947167327290209272023-04-09T06:28:02.387-07:002023-04-09T06:28:02.387-07:00Funny, I always thought Boanerges was a famous bat...Funny, I always thought Boanerges was a famous battle horse too, even had it in my head that it was attributed to Napoleon for some reason - not sure why!<br /><br />At the Beneski Museum at Amherst College, where Prof. Edward Hitchcock's dinosaur tracks are housed, there is a skeleton of a giant species of horse. Emily was certainly acquainted with the dinosaur tracks, and perhaps also with these skeletons of extinct megafauna. As such, I can see the whole poem as narrating the actions of the giant horse, as opposed to "mixed metaphors," the extinct animal reincarnated as it were by the energy & ingenuity of the industrial age. And also consistent with that era, even the resurrected mega-horse has been domesticated to serve the purposes of progress!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-57130930976959682552020-06-26T15:12:16.570-07:002020-06-26T15:12:16.570-07:00It's about writing poetry!!It's about writing poetry!!<br />VermontGlennnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00739855454215358206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-87771894383044084162014-12-13T18:36:08.853-08:002014-12-13T18:36:08.853-08:00thanks -- something else that gives the poem such ...thanks -- something else that gives the poem such delightful energy is how it's written in one long almost breathless sentence. I like your point about the presentation of industrial-age destruction presented without criticism -- or softening. Maybe that Christian reference is a bit sly there.Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-979829865800559742014-12-13T15:11:38.870-08:002014-12-13T15:11:38.870-08:00Welcome back! I love this poem -- it is beautiful... Welcome back! I love this poem -- it is beautiful, energetic and fun.<br /><br /> ED writes many nature poems; this poem describes the industrial age altering nature -- without softening the destruction of nature by man but also without criticism. I love how trains give a view of a hidden side of the world -- "supercilious peer" into windows in the backs of buildings and houses, lost industrial landscapes.and glimpses of lives in passing. <br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com