1
Author Archives: agraf
Poems 533 & 546
Poem 533 is one that we saw in the letters and dissected its implications for her relationship with religion (which is a complex one, of course). It struck me when I was reading this set of poems not only because it was familiar, but also because it feels so powerful after reading the poem where she contemplates her relationship with being a poet. ED says in 533 that poetry is everything, it “Comprehend[s] the Whole” (line 6). Reading and writing (and experiencing) poetry tells her all she needs to know about the world, all there is to know.
It seems that every time ED is metapoetic, my heart swells a little. I love knowing that she was so passionate about the art of hers and others’ words, and I love that she finds the artistic-ness of poetry outside of poems. Lines three and four of poem 546 are so precious to me: “But stopped, when qualified to guess / How prayer would feel – to me -” and I feel like this aligns the beginning of her creating poetic art with the beginning of her questioning her faith (or rather, questioning her religion). The last stanza of poem 546 really makes me feel this alignment–she has so gracefully thrown off the poetic balance of the stanza as she talks about her faith and/or religion being so hard to balance and to “poise” (line 20).
ED’s use of poetry as a way to digest the entire world and frankly, her existence, I feel these two poems really strongly represent what she believes in. And I think that, above all else, ED believed in poetry. The power of poetry, the devastation of poetry, the responsibility of poetry, the beauty of poetry, and absolutely everything in between.
This is my April 2 work.
Poem 121, Home, Heaven, and Perennial Nests
I promise I will connect this all…
Much of my Response 4 involved thinking about how ED characterized Death (yes, capital D) in her letters, and how she spoke of Death as a relief/release. She talked of Death as a means to Heaven and how life after Death was the ultimate safe space, the ultimate home. So, since having recently writing my response thinking about this, I had this idea in my mind when reading all of the poems for today.
I found poem 120 very sweet in its suggestion that Heaven can mean anything to anyone–it is neither static nor extravagant but that it is made of simple pleasures.
With both of these ideas top of my mind, I read poem 121 (and most especially, the ending) as ED suggesting that Sue is her Heaven. ED either does not want to or is not able to give Sue the extravagant things in life, but she does not need to. Sue is her home, she is her heaven.
I just love these ladies.
Ainsley’s CS for 3/24 Readings
In Martha Nell Smith’s Editorial History I: Beginnings to 1955, she says, “every writer is her first editor,” and goes on to mention how this idea elicits “special consideration” in Emily Dickinson’s case (272). I find this so interesting, on several accounts. We know from reading her letters to T.W. Higginson that she reached out to him seemingly searching for mentorship. He gave her poetic advice that she did not accept (rightfully so!). This leads me to my first (set of) question(s) connected to the quote I pulled–Could Dickinson have wanted to be her first (and only) editor? Why might she have reached out for advice? We know that she never explicitly asked for his advice (it’s just what seems most likely). If she wasn’t asking for feedback, what could she have been searching for? Additionally, the only editing feedback that Dickinson ever implemented was Susan’s advice for poem 124 “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers”. What does this say to you? I find it hard to ignore when thinking about Dickinson’s disapproval with the editing of her poems more generally, too. From what she said in her letter to Higginson about the editing of her work that was published in The Springfield Republican, her frustrations lie in the feeling of edits undermining the nature of the poem. I think that this speaks to how deeply she felt for Sue, beyond the obvious.
Smith also talks about how Sue’s process of assembling the “Book of Emily” was a slow one, partly due to her qualms with categorizing works that she did not believe could be categorized (because of Dickinson’s creative genius, and Sue’s deep affection for her creative genius) and partly due to her working during a time of immense grief. Vinnie was impatient with the speed, or lack thereof, in which Sue was working, so Vinnie discouraged Sue from continuing the project and sought other sources who might complete it faster. I don’t have a sister, and this could very well be Vinnie feeling protective over her sister in a time of grief, but I struggle not to feel a little bit critical over Vinnie in this–especially considering Dickinson not being keen on publishing her own work anyhow. Dickinson was such an appreciator of nature and its processes, and I feel that she would have appreciated Sue taking her time to work through her grief and to consider her qualms with the project. How do you feel about Vinnie’s impatience during this time? Where do you feel this impatience may have stemmed from?
The last lines of poems 5 and 7 stuck out to me immediately. Poem 5 is an assertion of love for Sue which ends in “Sue – forevermore!” Poem 7 rejoices in an everlasting summer that lives inside and ends in “Thy flower – forevermore!” The connection between the two is syntactically obvious, but I am curious about your thoughts about the connection between the two on a deeper level. Could Dickinson be aligning Sue with the summer and the bloom, vice versa, or something else? I really love these parallels and would love to hear your thoughts on them.
ED’s travels
I opened my book of ED’s letters from the UMW bookstore and this Oklahoma high school graduation ticket from 1994 popped out. I don’t have much to say, but I think it is so special that ED has traveled so far from her home is Massachusetts.
Maybe my phone is listening…maybe Whitman is listening
I got this NPR notification yesterday shortly after our class, and it got me thinking. If he were around today, would Whitman really be encouraging people to get up and work out? I don’t really think so. I think that he would be encouraging us to turn off our phones and think for ourselves instead.
pg. 58 – “They do not sweat…”
While I do agree with the points made in class about Whitman desiring to remember all of the important things in life, things that are simple and honest and good, I also feel a little bit critical of this section. He talks about wanting to be like animals because they are not concerned with productivity and materialism and vanity, which is fair, but he criticizes humans for being sweaty, whiny, religious, materialistic, industrious, and the like without questioning what has made humans that way. I would argue that the negative traits he attaches here to humans (and almost, to human nature) are not inherent to humans but rather imposed on them by society, the government, the social contract, etc. I do not feel that it is completely fair of him to desire to be more like animals because he wants to be less like humans, especially since he spends so much time focusing on the beauty and strength in individuals. It makes sense that he would want to get away from these things, but I think the passage could be strengthened by a criticism of, say, ideological state apparatuses.