tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.comments2024-03-18T12:24:57.638-07:00the prowling BeeSusan Kornfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comBlogger5292125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-28630240401978231432024-03-18T12:24:57.638-07:002024-03-18T12:24:57.638-07:00Thanks for that info. I was wondering how a Civil ...Thanks for that info. I was wondering how a Civil War poem, F704, 'My Portion is Defeat — today —', fit Pears' proposed focus of Fascicle 33:<br /><br />". . . for Fascicle 33, ED chose poems “that constitute [a] central drama . . . : those addressed to a distant lover and those poems that narrate, reflect on, and consider the terms of such a relationship.” (Pears, 2017, p. 30). <br /><br />Pears, Sean. 2017. "I, grown shrewder-scan the skies": Reading Emily Dickinson's Fascicle 33 as a Planetary System. The Emily Dickinson Journal; 26(1): 27-50.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-81537807605440467572024-03-18T10:15:43.319-07:002024-03-18T10:15:43.319-07:00Great material - thanks!Great material - thanks!Susan Kornfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384011972647144453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-12209580290495625802024-03-18T01:34:33.809-07:002024-03-18T01:34:33.809-07:00According to Franklin the third stanza is a parody...According to Franklin the third stanza is a parody of the fourth stanza of Isaac Watts’s hymn “There is a land of pure delight.” I found this version of the hymn:<br /><br />1 There is a land of pure delight,<br />where saints immortal reign;<br />infinite day excludes the night,<br />and pleasures banish pain.<br />2 There everlasting spring abides,<br />and never-withering flowers;<br />death, like a narrow sea, divides<br />that heavenly land from ours.<br />3 Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood<br />stand dressed in living green;<br />so to the Jews old Canaan stood,<br />while Jordan rolled between.<br />4 But timorous mortals start and shrink<br />to cross the narrow sea,<br />and linger shivering on the brink,<br />and fear to launch away.<br />5 O could we make our doubts remove,<br />those gloomy doubts that rise,<br />and see the Canaan that we love<br />with unbeclouded eyes;<br />6 Could we but climb where Moses stood,<br />and view the landscape o'er,<br />not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood,<br />should fright us from the shore!<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-63991389435949849622024-03-17T23:58:29.652-07:002024-03-17T23:58:29.652-07:00I like how Emily is making fun of her difficulties...I like how Emily is making fun of her difficulties. What surprises me is that she writes about it to her friends. What she describes certainly isn’t normal and should be taken seriously. When I was at that age I experienced something very similar. My way of coping was to act as normally as possible and not to tell anybody. In my case as in hers it got worse over time. I couldn’t understand back then what was wrong with me and why I was having these problems. Now I know it can be labeled complex posttraumatic stress disorder. I think she suffered from something like that. Many of her poems make perfect sense when read from this perspective.<br />Bessel van der Kolk in his book “The Body Keeps the Score” points out that people with complex PTSD are frequently misdiagnosed. Here are some of the diagnosis various authors attributed to ED: Dickinson was psychotic (Cody 1971); she had lupus erythematosus (Reynolds 1979); she suffered from Hesperian Depression, known today as Seasonal Affective Disorder (Cameron 1972, Oren and Rosenthal 2001)9 ; she was anorexic (Thomas 1988); she was mad (Lindauer 1994); she was neurotic and schizotypal (Monroe 1992, Winhusen 2004);10 she was agoraphobic and sexually deviant (Garbowsky 1989, Kavaler-Adler 1991); she suffered from bipolar disorder (Kaufman 2001, Ramsey and Weisberg 2004, Goldberg 2019)11 and panic disorder (McDermott 2000, Archer 2009); she was an incest and trauma survivor (Hirschhorn 1991, Perriman 2006); she had tuberculosis (Mamunes 2007); she was autistic (Brown 2009); she was epileptic (Gordon 2011, Domenico, Chirchiglia, and Marotta, 2019). <br />(Vivian Delchamps: "The Names of Sickness": Emily Dickinson, Diagnostic Reading, and Articulating The Emily Dickinson Journal, Volume 28, Number 2, 2019, pp. 106-132)<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-92038093547314540482024-03-17T10:57:52.867-07:002024-03-17T10:57:52.867-07:00I should point out that the theory I proposed in t...I should point out that the theory I proposed in the commentary to Fr699, that each fascicle was discrete and thought out, is now in question. I see that the themes of judgment and heaven vs earth are continued all the way through this fascicle too. I think it is just as likely that the coherence of the poems is due more to the chronological nature of the poems than any kind of conscious ordering.d scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08242682202760522439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-1317860115326286242024-03-17T10:50:27.662-07:002024-03-17T10:50:27.662-07:00"Propitiate" does put an interesting spi..."Propitiate" does put an interesting spin on this poem. Thanks for that gloss. I prefer "anticipate" for the general sense of the poem. I can see how propitiate fits better for the biographical take though. I believe ED was always, somehow, conscious of both her own personal meaning and the public perception simultaneously. d scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08242682202760522439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-24608271841937858792024-03-17T01:04:50.325-07:002024-03-17T01:04:50.325-07:00Seems ED was ambivalent about what to do with the ...Seems ED was ambivalent about what to do with the poems and left it to chance. According to Franklin she sent about six hundred poems to friends. The rest she kept to herself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-26667862871133379342024-03-16T23:43:38.192-07:002024-03-16T23:43:38.192-07:00Reminds me of Freud: "He that has eyes to see...Reminds me of Freud: "He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-84554152380357622612024-03-16T11:07:51.722-07:002024-03-16T11:07:51.722-07:00‘The Child's faith is new’, [brackets mine], E...‘The Child's faith is new’, [brackets mine], ED’s alternative “propitiate” in place of “anticipate”<br /><br />The Child's faith is new —<br />Whole — like His Principle —<br />Wide — like the Sunrise<br />On fresh Eyes —<br />Never had a Doubt —<br />Laughs — at a Scruple —<br />Believes all sham<br />[Is] But Paradise —<br /><br />Credits the World — [Trusts, EDLex]<br />Deems His Dominion [Capitalized “His” can refer to either God or Wadsworth]<br />Broadest of Sovereignties —<br />And Caesar — mean [small] —<br />In the Comparison —<br />[Actually, Wadsworth is a] Baseless Emperor — <br />Ruler of nought [Nothing except His congregation]—<br />Yet swaying all [His congregation]— <br /><br />Grown bye and bye<br />To hold mistaken<br />His pretty estimates<br />Of Prickly Things<br />He gains the skill<br />Sorrowful — as certain —<br />Men — to propitiate<br />Instead of Kings —<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-82211757379092558652024-03-16T10:40:43.824-07:002024-03-16T10:40:43.824-07:00On first reading, ‘The Child's faith is new —’...On first reading, ‘The Child's faith is new —’ is a description of a maturing child’s worldview.<br /><br />On second reading, the “Child” could be a conservative Presbyterian minister to whom ED gradually revealed, in their pre-1860 correspondence, her doubts about resurrection and Christian dogma. He, never exposed to such heresy, was all ears and anxious to show ED where she’s wrong.<br /><br />The manuscript of this poem (F701) proposed “propitiate” instead of “anticipate” in Line 23, which puts a more utilitarian spin on ED’s last two lines and on the entire poem. ED and Wadsworth certainly did not see eye-to-eye about religion, which may have intrigued him and provided the lure for his 1860 visit to Amherst.<br /><br />ED composed this poem at age 32. Franklin estimates she wrote her first Master letter spring 1858, when she was 27. She first met Bowles on June 30, 1858 (Habegger, 2002, p.427). Paragraphs 1-3 of Master Letter 1 indicates a continuing correspondence, so “Master” could not have been Bowles, but chronologically he could easily have been Wadsworth.<br /><br />Master Letter 1, Paragraphs 1-3 <br />(Johnson, “about 1858”; Franklin, “spring 1858)<br /><br />“Dear Master<br /><br />"I am ill, but grieving more that you are ill, I make my stronger hand work long eno' to tell you. I thought perhaps you were in Heaven, and when you spoke again, it seemed quite sweet, and wonderful, and surprised me so- I wish that you were well.”<br /><br />“I would that all I love, should be weak no more. The Violets are by my side, the Robin very near, and "Spring" - they say, Who is she - going by the door – . . .<br /><br />“You ask me what my flowers said - then they were disobedient - I gave them messages. . . .”<br /><br />Franklin, R.W. 1986. The master letters of Emily Dickinson. Amherst College Press; First Edition (January 1, 1986)<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-43344459902515576252024-03-16T10:09:30.243-07:002024-03-16T10:09:30.243-07:00Adam,
A clear and compelling explication. Thank ...Adam, <br /><br />A clear and compelling explication. Thank you for the two readings.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-53076520939046030112024-03-15T17:23:58.063-07:002024-03-15T17:23:58.063-07:00Just noticed that "Him" in Line 1 is cap...Just noticed that "Him" in Line 1 is capitalized. ED's not marrying God, so that leaves Wadsworth as the only other choice.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-25287391980960820002024-03-15T14:42:54.704-07:002024-03-15T14:42:54.704-07:00I thought so too. I thought so too. d scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08242682202760522439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-56670931435714449592024-03-14T20:55:07.370-07:002024-03-14T20:55:07.370-07:00Another latitudinal relationship pertains to the g...Another latitudinal relationship pertains to the ground: above, upon, below. We’re talking about a home fit for infinity, after all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-67430250032548946092024-03-13T09:00:52.908-07:002024-03-13T09:00:52.908-07:00Such gargantuan energy spent on simply what the he...Such gargantuan energy spent on simply what the hell is she talking about. I love it, of course, but so qualitatively different than any other poetic experience.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-80062273366896501562024-03-13T07:23:45.362-07:002024-03-13T07:23:45.362-07:00Instead, the arriving letter, which probably is fr...Instead, the arriving letter, which probably is from Sue (no one Wadsworth knows), merely tells ED (again) how infinite she (her poetry) is. ED sighs “not [for] / the Heaven God bestow”, but “for lack of [Wadsworth’s] Heaven.”Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-31582236277929860692024-03-12T15:45:43.063-07:002024-03-12T15:45:43.063-07:00Surely, “For firm Conviction of a Mouse” is ED’s v...Surely, “For firm Conviction of a Mouse” is ED’s version of a serious joke. She has tried to “exorcise” every trace of hope that Wadsworth will communicate with her from San Francisco, but, just in case, before she reads the first sentence of the letter, she glances <br /><br />“. . . narrow, at the Wall —<br />And narrow at the floor <br />For firm Conviction of a Mouse<br />Not exorcised before —”<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-32958386431345475522024-03-12T14:56:12.606-07:002024-03-12T14:56:12.606-07:00What a perfect match, painting and poem. Maybe Ver...What a perfect match, painting and poem. Maybe Vermeer and Dickinson coordinated compositions by time travel.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-32186817781513581722024-03-11T17:38:54.212-07:002024-03-11T17:38:54.212-07:00The pronoun “It” that begins the poem probably ref...The pronoun “It” that begins the poem probably refers to “trouble” in Line 2. “It” appears three more times, in Lines 5, 6, & 13; the first two probably refer to “trouble”, but the “it” of Line 13 probably refers to “Grief”.<br /><br />As mentioned above in comment dated March 11, 2024 at 3:06 PM, if ED had decided to change “see” and “benumbed” to “feel” and “obscured”, she probably would have also changed the Line 2 word “problem” to “Anguish”, to keep the three changes logically connected. <br /><br />Among many other definitions, ED Lexicon (EDL) defines “anguish” as “separation from the presence of God”. We know ED suffered severe separation anxiety (anguish) when Sue taught school in Baltimore during their early 20s. By her early 30s, when she composed ‘It ceased to hurt me so’, she perhaps had realized separation anxiety is dynamic; separation isn’t permanent. God is still in His Heaven, waiting for ED to renew her faith in Him.<br /><br />In contrast, ED’s other God, Wadsworth, had departed for San Francisco, a foreign universe for ED, and, to her knowledge, isn’t going to return. Her human God is “dead”, and her “grief” is permanent. She has no idea what consoled her “Grief”, “Except”, possibly, “Wilderness” (EDL: emptiness; hollowness). Her “benumbed . . . Track” felt “almost [like] "Peace”.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-10751970911816540722024-03-11T15:06:30.164-07:002024-03-11T15:06:30.164-07:00ED’s original manuscript version of Stanza 1 read:...ED’s original manuscript version of Stanza 1 read:<br /><br />“It ceased to hurt me, though so slow <br />I could not see the trouble go –<br />But only knew by looking back –<br />That something – had obscured the Track”<br /><br />Originally, Lines 2-4 made sense whether taken literally: looking back at a real railroad “Track”, or figuratively: a troubled feeling slowly vanished but she only realized it by comparing feelings then and now. <br /><br />Later, she considered three alternate words: in Line 2, “feel” for “see” and “Anguish” for “trouble”, and in Line 4, “benumbed” for “obscured”. The summed effect emphasized “feeling” rather than “seeing”, but either choice made sense. <br /><br />Strangely, one of her editors decided to change only two words, “see” and “obscured”, leaving Stanza 1 (above) and us with mixed metaphors of seeing and feeling.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-41062256877684858942024-03-11T07:30:21.778-07:002024-03-11T07:30:21.778-07:00Wow, this is great news! Kudos to you, Adam.
- A...Wow, this is great news! Kudos to you, Adam. <br /><br />- A Kornfeld fan from the PhilippinesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-23056761527459459912024-03-10T19:39:37.801-07:002024-03-10T19:39:37.801-07:00Thanks for the kind words Larry. You give me heart...Thanks for the kind words Larry. You give me heart. Also thanks for the Bloom, "Dickinson’s entire art...is to think and write her way out of that siege (of perspectives)." This is very helpful I think when working to understand Dickinson's poetry. <br /><br />I'm not sure it was necessary to specifically call out feminists critics, (it belies Bloom's own "perspective" perhaps), but otherwise these are wise words to keep in mind.<br /><br />d scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08242682202760522439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-17884358157440138882024-03-09T15:52:07.600-08:002024-03-09T15:52:07.600-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-28598978528901908302024-03-09T10:07:59.321-08:002024-03-09T10:07:59.321-08:00Well, that makes it all rather clear. It reminds m...Well, that makes it all rather clear. It reminds me of the onbvious sexual connotation of the butterfly pea flower (clitora ternatea).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029797379711350813.post-48226139419509093692024-03-08T13:57:16.782-08:002024-03-08T13:57:16.782-08:00An interpretation of F699, ‘The power to be true t...An interpretation of F699, ‘The power to be true to You’:<br /><br />I have the strength to be true to You, Charles Wadsworth<br />Until in my face<br />Judgmental God pushes His Picture - <br />Presumptuous of Your Place - <br /><br />Of God – Could Wadsworth deprive Me? -<br />Wadsworth - exceeds Heaven – <br />His invitation - Reduced Yours, God,<br />Until yours seemed too small.<br />Larry Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02810899482852120751noreply@blogger.com