773.1863.Conscious am I in my chamber

Variant A. Sent to Sue; signed Emily; Lines 1-10 (first leaf) missing.
(ED’s alternative words in parentheses)

Nor Myself to Him, by accent
Forfeit probity.
Weariness of Him, were quainter
Than Monotony
Knew a particle, of Space’s
Vast society –
Neither if He visit other –
Do He dwell or nay
Know I – just (But) instinct esteem Him
Immortality

 

Variant B

Conscious am I in my Chamber –
Of a shapeless friend –
He doth not attest by Posture –
Nor confirm – by Word –

Neither Place – need I present Him –
Fitter Courtesy
Hospitable intuition
Of His Company –

Presence – is His furthest license –
Neither He to Me
Nor Myself to Him – by Accent –
Forfeit Probity

Weariness of Him, were quainter
Than Monotony
Knew a Particle – of
Space’s Vast Society –

Neither if He visit Other –
Do He dwell – or Nay – know I-
But Instinct esteem Him (Report Him)
Immortality –

772.1863.Essential Oils – are wrung –

772.1863.Essential Oils – are wrung –

Essential Oils – are wrung –
The Attar from the Rose
Be not expressed by Suns – alone –
It is the gift of Screws –

The General Rose – decay –
But this – in Lady’s Drawer Make Summer –
When the Lady lie
In Ceaseless Rosemary –

 

An interpretation of ‘Essential Oils – are wrung –’, Fr772:

 

Great poems, like attar from the rose, are not composed by inspiration alone, they are the gift of pain and toil.

Ordinary poems die young, but great poems shed warm light after their poet dies.

 

ED probably composed ‘Essential Oils – are wrung –’ to honor her favorite poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who died in 1861.

771.1863.We miss her not because we see

771.1863.We miss her not because we see
(Possessive pronoun, it’s, corrected in Line 3. ED’s alternative words used in Lines 4, 5, 8.)

We miss Her, not because We see –
The Absence of an Eye –
Except (its) Mind accompany
(Deprive) Society

As slightly as the (Flights) of Stars –
Ourselves – asleep below –
We know that their superior Eyes
(Convey Us -) – as they go –

An interpretation:

We miss Her not because we notice the absence of her Eye (Body), but because her death has deprived Society of her Mind (Soul).

We miss her Eye (body) as slightly as the Flights of Stars passing overhead while we sleep. We know that their superior Eyes convey our souls (Minds) as they go.

This poem (F771) is probably about Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861), ED’s favorite poet.

770 1863.Strong draughts of their refreshing minds

Strong Draughts of Their Refreshing Minds
To drink – enables Mine
Through Desert or the Wilderness
As bore it sealed Wine

To go elastic – Or as One
The Camel’s trait – attained –
How powerful the stimulus
Of an Hermetic Mind –

The “it” in Line 4 refers to “Mine” (my mind) in Line2. Line 4 translates as “As if my mind bore sealed Wine”. The “Hermetic Mind” in Line 8 refers to and slant rhymes with “sealed Wine” in Line 4.

“Hermetic” in Line 4 implies a mind sealed in both directions, in and out. ED probably did not mean a closed mind, but that’s what her words imply. Possibly she meant a mind resistant to the latest fashions in public discourse, poetic styles, or religious dogma. David Preest lists Elizabeth Barrett Browning and George Eliot as likely leaders on Emily’s List of “Hermetic Minds”.

 ED has convinced me that virtually all of her poems have two or more levels of meaning: poetic and historical. These levels cannot be separated into two ivory towers, as most academics do.

The reason for her instant and continuing public adulation (1890-present) was and is, by far, poetic. She is one of the “Greats” that she always dreamed to be, despite her lifelong refusal to publish. That refusal freed her from criticism and allowed her to explore the outer boundaries of poetic power.

Her refusal to publish was only possible because of the lifelong financial and daily social/housekeeping support of her family, especially her father and sister, respectively. Throughout her life, the Dickinsons hired servants, first Negro and later Irish, some of whom became much more than housekeepers for ED.

My point is that our appreciation and love of ED’s poems can be enriched by understanding both poetic and historical levels of her sound and sense. We impoverish ourselves if we ignore their historical base.

769.1863.These saw visions

769.1863.These saw visions
(ED’s alternative words accepted)

These – saw Visions –
(Bind) them softly –
These – held Dimples –
Smooth them slow –
This – addressed departing accents –
(Soon) – Sweet Mouth – to miss thee so –

This – we stroked –
Unnumbered – Satin –
These – we (fondled in) our own –
Fingers of the Slim Aurora –
Not so arrogant – this Noon –

These – adjust – that ran to meet Us –
Pearl – (the) stocking – Pearl (the) Shoe –
Paradise – the only Palace
Fit for Her reception – now –

Amazing prescience. In 1886 Sue prepared ED’s body for funeral and burial. ED described her body as she would like Sue to see it.

Her eyes had seen visions, her cheeks shown dimples, her lips had said goodbye. “Sweet Mouth”, I’ll miss thee so.

This hair I stroked like satin, these fingers I fondled in my own. They aren’t arrogant this noon.

These feet that ran to meet me wear pearl stockings and pearl shoes, fit only for heaven now.

611.1863.Her sweet Weight on my Heart a Night

Her sweet Weight on my Heart a Night
Had scarcely deigned to lie —
When, stirring, for Belief’s delight,
My Bride had slipped away —

If ’twas a Dream — made solid — just
The Heaven to confirm —
Or if Myself were dreamed of Her —
The power to presume —

With Him remain — who unto Me —
Gave — even as to All —
A Fiction superseding Faith —
By so much — as ’twas real —

 

In ‘The Prowling Bee’ blog, Susan Kornfeld concludes an amazing explication of ‘Her sweet Weight’ with a caveat: “I don’t think a biographical interpretation adds much to the poem.” For me, the exact fit of Stanza 1 to ED’s life from 1847 to 1853 enriches my understanding of the entire poem.

ED met Sue at Amherst Academy in fall 1847 when both were 17. Their relationship quickly developed into deep friendship (philia) because of their shared love of poetry. In a January 1855 letter (L181), ED admitted “I love you as dearly, Susie, as when love first began, on the step at the front door, and under the Evergreens” (summer 1850). There is evidence, but not proof, in ED’s letters and poems that their relationship had become sexual (eros).

After Sue’s engagement to Austin in March 1853, she cooled her relationship with ED, much to ED’s chagrin.  Apparently, those 30+ months before Sue’s engagement felt like a dream to a love-starved ED, and for years afterward she felt abandoned. That history, which ED universalized in this poem, underlies ‘Her sweet Weight’.

“Belief’s delight” in Line 3 may refer to Sue’s bourgeoning acceptance of contemporary Christianity morality.

ED’s “Him” in Line 9 echoes Master Letter F3 (Summer 1861): “God made me- [Sir] Master-I did’nt be-myself. I dont know how it was done. He built the heart in me”.

ED’s “Fiction superseding Faith” in Line 11 is her dream, but her dream derives from her history.

Franklin, RW (ed). 1986. The Master Letters of Emily Dickinson. Amherst College Press

610.1863.From Cocoon forth a Butterfly

From Cocoon forth a Butterfly
As Lady from her Door
Emerged — a Summer Afternoon —
Repairing Everywhere —

Without Design — that I could trace
Except to stray abroad
On miscellaneous Enterprise
The Clovers — understood —

Her pretty Parasol be seen
Contracting in a Field
Where Men made Hay —
Then struggling hard
With an opposing Cloud —

Where Parties — Phantom as Herself —
To Nowhere — seemed to go
In purposeless Circumference —
As ’twere a Tropic Show —

And notwithstanding Bee — that worked —
And Flower — that zealous blew —
This Audience of Idleness
Disdained them, from the Sky —

Till Sundown crept — a steady Tide —
And Men that made the Hay —
And Afternoon — and Butterfly —
Extinguished — in the Sea —

 

F609 and F610 feel related, both about passing days, both in languid language, and actors in both, grains of sand and butterflies, vanish in time’s sea. Perhaps that’s why Franklin numbered them consecutively.

However, he dated them “summer 1863” and “last half 1863”, and ED put them in Fascicle 26 (Poem 21) and Fascicle 29 (Poem 1), respectively. Also, F609 is a love poem of patient waiting for reunion in heaven, while F610 segues from a summer day (Stanzas 1-4) to meaningless merging with the sea (Stanzas 5-6).

F609-F610 inference? Make hay while the sun shines for tomorrow the bell tolls for thee?