766.1863.No bobolink reverse his singing

766.1863.No bobolink reverse his singing

No Bobolink – reverse His Singing
When the only Tree
Ever He minded occupying
By the Farmer be –

Clove to the Root –
His Spacious Future –
Best Horizon – gone –
Brave Bobolink –
Whose Music be His
Only Anodyne –

ED’s second letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, L338, dated April 28, 1862, included this sentence:

“Mr Higginson, . . . I had a terror – since September – I could tell to none – and so I sing, as the Boy does by the Burying Ground, because I am afraid –. . . . ”

For ED, 1861-1863 were traumatic but extremely productive years. She “sang” 698 poems, 39% of her total oeuvre of 1789 poems from 1850-1886. If we believe her darkest poetry, composing may have saved her from mental collapse or worse. In that context, I interpret “Brave Bobolink”:

No poet – reverse her Singing
When the only heart
She ever wanted to occupy
By its Owner be
Closed to the Root

Her Spacious Future,
Her best Horizon – gone
Her Song Her
Only Anodyne –
Brave Bobolink

The logical syntax for this poem is two cinquains, as in my interpretation, but ED clearly split the manuscript into a quatrain and a sestet. Careless or intentional? Who knows?

The manuscript that ED stitched into Fascicle 34 has “Brave Bobolink” as the last line (Line 10), which is how Johnson (1955) published it. That sharp B-B alliteration closes the poem nicely. As an alternative, ED suggested “Brave Bobolink” be Line 8 and “Only Anodyne” Line 10.

Why did Franklin (1999), contrary his usual protocol of omitting alternative words, publish ED’s alternative line arrangement in Stanza 2? And why did he ignore the illogical syntax of stanza structure by leaving Line 5, “Clove to the Root”, in Stanza 2?

2 thoughts on “766.1863.No bobolink reverse his singing”

  1. Go back and look at your comments for F88https://bloggingdickinson.blogspot.com/2011/09/f-88-1859-83.html

    Interesting that you point out a reversal in a poem that also features anodyne and bobolink.

    Reply

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