612.1863.’Tis Opposites — Entice —
‘Tis Opposites — Entice —
Deformed Men — ponder Grace —
Bright fires — the Blanketless —
The Lost — Day’s face —
The Blind — esteem it be
Enough Estate — to see —
The Captive — strangles new —
For deeming — Beggars — play —
To lack — enamor Thee —
Tho’ the Divinity —
Be only
Me —
Line 1’s clichéd proposition (opposites attract) suggests Stanza 3’s “Thee” and “Me” could contrast prosaic with poetic personalities. However, Line 10’s capitalized “Divinity” brings to mind a conservative Christian preacher, “Thee” (Wadsworth), and a non-believing “Me” (ED), polar opposites regarding Christian “Fiction” (previous poem, F611).
Stanza 3 consists of four visually and numerically shortening lines of 4, 3, 2, 1 words with all lines perfect rhymes: “Thee”, “Divinity”, “only”, “Me”. Dazzling pyrotechnics, no?
I suspect ED’s skeptical search for life’s meaning, expressed in her pre-1860 letters to Wadsworth, is what “Enticed”/“Enamored” him to visit her at ‘Homestead’ in summer 1860.