Month: June 2025

Take your Heaven further on —
This — to Heaven divine Has gone —
Had You earlier blundered in
Possibly, e’en You had seen
An Eternity — put on —
Now — to ring a Door beyond
Is the utmost of Your Hand —
To the Skies — apologize —
Nearer to Your Courtesies
Than this Sufferer polite —
Dressed to meet You —
See — in White!

ED had reached the anger stage of grief recovery, and she aimed her darts at Wadsworth, yet she still loved him. As evidence of her enduring love for Wadsworth and his for her, here is an 1879 “Calvary” poem (F1485) that affirmed her concern for Wadsworth in a sweet quatrain, ‘Spurn the temerity —’:

“Spurn the temerity —
Rashness of Calvary —
Gay were Gethsemane
Knew we of Thee —

It would not surprise me if she mailed F1485 to Wadsworth in 1879, though we have no hard evidence that happened. At any rate, the following summer, 1880, he showed up unannounced at her front door:

“Where did you come from,” I said, for he spoke like an Apparition.

“I stepped from my Pulpit to the Train” was [his] simple reply, and when I asked “how long,” “Twenty Years” said he with inscrutable roguery – but the loved Voice has ceased.”
(Letter 1040 to Charles Clark, April 15, 1886, exactly one month before she died)

The ED-Wadsworth “love affair” was likely a marriage of two disparate minds who agreed to disagree, both deeply spiritual, one an eloquent conservative Christian minister, the other a world-class agnostic poet. They died good friends, in 1882 and 1886 respectively.

PS1, Apparently, “Calvary” and “Gethsemane” are ED’s code names for Wadsworth and herself. She had to be careful in her poems to protect Wadsworth’s reputation and her privacy. ‘Spurn the temerity —’ (F1485, 1879) is the 12th and last of her “Calvary” poems.

PS2, Wadsworth, who was 66 in 1880 and nearing the end of his life, apparently made the 500-mile roundtrip from his home in Philadelphia to visit friends James and Charles Clark in Northampton and deliver a sermon at their church. He must have made the 12-mile train trip to Amherst that afternoon to visit ED. “Twenty Years” was a his roguish reference to his previous visit with her in Amherst in summer 1860.

The sweetest Heresy received
That Man and Woman know –
Each Other’s Convert –
Though the Faith accommodate but Two –

The Churches are so frequent –
The Ritual – so small –
The Grace so unavoidable –
To fail – is Infidel –

ED Lexicon defines “Convert” (Line 3) and “Infidel” (Line 8), respectively, as metaphors for “Lover” and “Shameful”.

This poem is about an archtypic Christian True Believer and an archtypic Agnostic who agreed to disagree.

That spark of tension lit the fire of a friendship that lasted their lifetimes. Their marriage of minds was “The sweetest Heresy” that “Man and Woman know”. In August 1882, four months after the Christian died and four years before the Agnostic descended in a white coffin that symbolized her faithfulness to their marriage and to her poetry, ED could honestly say of Reverend Charles Wadsworth:

“He was my Shepherd from “Little Girl”hood and I cannot conjecture a world without him, so noble was he always – so fathomless – so gentle.” (L994, August 22, 1882, from ED to James D. Clark, Wadsworth’s best friend).

Never underestimate ED. (Comments on Fr 671,TPB, June 24-27, 2025)

783.1863.Never for Society 

ED’s three alternate words in parentheses

Never for Society
He shall seek in vain—
Who His own acquaintance
Cultivate—Of Men

Wiser Men (One, Ear) may weary—
But the Man within
Never knew Satiety—
Better (Braver) entertain

Than could Border Ballad—
Or Biscayan Hymn—
Neither introduction
Need You—unto Him—

“A majority of the poems written before this one in Dickinson’s oeuvre exhibit a painful yearning for a Beloved. In this one the Beloved has been internalized as Self” (Adam DeGraff, The Prowling Bee, F783, 1863, ‘Never for Society’)

Your explication sentence, Adam, says better and in fewer words my comment on the previous poem, ‘Renunciation—is a piercing Virtue—’. As always, ED said it best, but camouflaged:

“Renunciation—is the Choosing
Against itself—
Itself to justify
Unto itself—”

An interpretation:

Renunciation—is the Choosing
Against myself—
Myself to justify
Unto myself—

In few words, she renounced romance and committed herself to poetry. In her newly coined word of 1882, she left ““Little Girl”hood” behind and became an adult. She had shed her pathological infatuation for Charles Wadsworth, but, to her credit, she cherished him as a friend until she died:

ED’s Letter L994, August 22, 1882, to James D. Clark, Wadsworth’s best friend, four months after Wadsworth’s  death and four years before hers.

“………….. He was my Shepherd from “Little Girl”hood and I cannot conjecture a world without him, so noble was he always – so fathomless – so gentle. ……………”

ED’s Letter L1298, April 15, 1886, to Charles H. Clark, James Clark’s brother, four weeks before she died:

“…………….. “With the exception of my Sister who never saw Mr Wadsworth, your Name alone remains. ‘Going Home,’ was he not an Aborigine of the Sky? The last time he came in Life, I was with my Lilies and Heliotropes, said my Sister to me, “the Gentleman with the deep voice wants to see you, Emily,” hearing him ask of the Servant. “Where did you come from,” I said, for he spoke like an Apparition. [Wadsworth appeared unannounced at ED’s front door in summer 1880]

““I stepped from my Pulpit from to the Train” was [his] simple reply, and when I asked “how long”, “Twenty Years” said he with inscrutable roguery – but the loved Voice has ceased, and to some one who heard him “Going Home,” it was sweet to speak. ………….”. [Wadsworth visited ED 20 years earlier, in summer 1860]

Miller, C, and D. Mitchell, 2024, The Letters of Emily Dickinson’ (p. 687). Harvard University Press. Kindle Edition.

Second half 1863. Five alternate words and one phrase, in parentheses

Some such Butterfly be seen
On Brazilian Pampas —
Just at noon — no later — Sweet (Than) —
Then — the License (Vision, Pageant) closes —

Some such Spice (Rose) — express – and pass —
Subject (present) to Your Plucking —
As the Stars — You knew last Night —
Foreigners (Know not You -) — This Morning —

‘Some such Butterfly be seen’ (Fr661) could easily be about Sue, whom ED called “Butterfly” in ‘One Sister have I in our house’ (Fr7, 1858) and “Sweet” in ‘That first Day, when you praised Me, Sweet’ (470.1862). But, using ED’s alternative words and phrase, the poem becomes universal:

“Just at noon — no later — (Than) —
Then — the (Vision) closes —

“Some such (Rose) — express – and pass —
(Present) to Your Plucking —”

We all have missed opportunities because we hesitated. Horace warns us, “carpe diem”:

“Cut short long-term hopes. While we are speaking, envious life
will have fled: seize the day, trusting the future as little as possible.”

(Ode 11, Lines 7-8)

782.1863. Renunciation—is a piercing Virtue—

(Parentheses) ED’s alternate words.

Renunciation—is a piercing Virtue—
The letting go
A Presence—for an Expectation—
Not now—
The putting out of Eyes—
Just Sunrise—
Lest Day—
Day’s Great Progenitor—
Outvie (Outshow, Outglow)
Renunciation—is the Choosing
Against itself—
Itself to justify
Unto itself—
When larger function—
Make that appear—
Smaller—that Covered (flooded, sated) Vision—Here—

On ‘The Prowling Bee’(March 25, 2025), “Anonymous” and “d. scribe” suggest this poem is about a “letting go of a Presence (a desired love?) for the expectation of something beyond”. This take is also mine, with a further suggestion that the seed of this poem is ED’s “letting go” of her pathological infatuation for Rev. Charles Wadsworth for her “Vision” of future poetic fame . She was 24 when she first heard him preach; he was 16 years older, married with two children, and a pew-filling pastor at Philadelphia’s Arch Street Presbyterian. She felt spiritual kinship with him, and he may have been her muse for many poems, but romantic partner he probably was not.

For a fuller explanation of the biographical history between ED and Wadsworth, see my comments on the ‘ED-LarryB’ blog:

Biographic History of ED and Reverend Charles Wadsworth

ED’s original lines and an interpretation of them:

(Parentheses) ED’s alternate words; <Angle Brackets>  Definitions from ED Lexicon; [Square Brackets], editorial comments.

L1-L3:

Renunciation—is a piercing Virtue—
The letting go
A Presence—for an Expectation—

Renunciation is a <painful> Virtue,
The letting go [of]
An <Emotion> for a <Hope>.

L4-L8:

Not now—
The putting out of Eyes—
Just Sunrise—
Lest Day—
Day’s Great Progenitor—
Outvie

Not now
[Abandoning my vision of being a Poet,]
[But rebirth of my Vision]
Lest [infatuation,]
[Love’s] great progenitor,
(Outglow) [my Vision.]

L9-L12:

Renunciation—is the Choosing
Against itself—
Itself to justify
Unto itself—

Renunciation is the choosing
Against [myself,]
[Myself] to justify
Unto [myself.]

L13-L16:

When larger function—
Make that appear—
Smaller—that Covered Vision—Here—

When larger [Vision]
Make[s] that [romance] appear
Smaller, that (Flooded) Vision [has Won].

About the time Charles Wadsworth resigned from Arch Street Presbyterian in Philadelphia and sailed to San Francisco [May 1, 1862], ED decided to wear only white for the rest of her life, including her funeral dress and her coffin. My guess is that white was an outward sign of her “trothed” faithfulness to Wadsworth and of her resolution to devote herself to poetry. In 11 words, Lines 9-12 codify ED’s allegiance to poetry and her “troth” to forgo future marital ambitions, as Adam DeGraff comments in the next poem (TPB, FR783):  “A majority of the poems written before this one [Fr782] in Dickinson’s oeuvre exhibit a painful yearning for a Beloved. In this one the Beloved has been internalized as Self.”

Sixteen years later [1879] when a real suitor, retired Massachusetts Supreme Court Chief Justice, Otis Phillips Lord, asked her hand in marriage, or at least some mutually satisfying relationship (e.g., George Elliot’s connubial partnership with George Henry Lewes), ED said “No” (Letter L562 from ED to Judge Lord, about 1878). The letter was heavily censored by someone after ED’s death, probably her brother, Austin. The surviving fragment belies the myth that ED was a reclusive spinster and, given its content, makes me wonder what was in the censored fragments.

Top of  sheet cut off:

“Dont you know you are happiest while I withhold and not confer – dont you know that “No” is the wildest word we consign to Language . . . .
. . . . to lie so near your longing – to touch it as I passed, for I am but a restive sleeper and often should journey from your Arms through the happy night, but you will lift me back, wont you, for only there I ask to be – I say, if I felt the longing nearer – than in our dear past, perhaps I could not resist to bless it, but must, beacuse [sic] it would be right.

“The “Stile” is God’s – My Sweet One – for your great sake – not mine – I will not let you cross – but its all your’s, [sic] and when it is right I will lift the Bars, and lay you in the Moss – You showed me the word.

“I hope it has no different guise when my fingers make it. It is Anguish I long conceal from you to let you leave me, hungry, but you ask the divine Crust and that would doom the Bread.

[bottom of sheet cut off]

Unsigned