674.1863.I could not prove the Years had feet –

I could not prove the Years had feet –

Yet confident they run
Am I, from symptoms that are past
And Series that are done –

I find my feet have further Goals –
I smile opon the Aims
That felt so ample – Yesterday –
Today’s – have vaster claims –

I do not doubt the self I was
Was competent to me –
But something awkward in the fit –
Proves that – outgrown – I see –

Given ED’s track record of 674 inimitable poems, “Series that are done” and self-confidence in her future:

“I find my feet have further Goals –
I smile opon the Aims
That felt so ample – Yesterday –
Today’s – have vaster claims –”,

she set a high bar for herself. Apologies to Bogey and Ingrid, but “Here’s looking at you Kid”.

“I’m fascinated by the slow transition we see happening in many of these poems, from a past self devoted to “lover(s)” to an emerging self that has vaster claims” (d. scribe, TPB, F674).

Yes, ED’s poems in Franklin’s estimated chronological order seem headed the way you say, d. scribe, but the slope is moguled. For example, this and the two preceding poems, F672, F673, and F674, are a gamut of love: angry, fawning, and objective. Trite but true, ED’s “slow transition” has peaks and valleys that never end, like life.

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After commenting on Poems 1-763 (Franklin) on The Prowling Bee’, I am convinced that (virtually) all of Emily Dickinson’s (ED’s) poems have a factual historical level in addition to their various poetic levels of meaning. 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.

More than a century of scholarly research has resulted in somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 books and published academic papers about ED. A large majority of these publications focus only on the “poetic levels” of one or more of ED’s poems. Publications that consider both the “historic level” and “poetic levels” comprise a small minority. Publications that focus only on the factual history of her life probably number less than 100. (All numbers in this paragraph are my estimates.)

Unfortunately for ED’s universe of readers, these two basic levels (historical and poetic) cannot be separated into two ivory towers. Every history-level publication that I know of includes at least some discussion of the poetic level(s).

The reverse is not true. In fact, authors of the “poetry-level” school seem to avoid commenting on the historical level, sometimes admonishing that a poem must stand on its own, without concern for its historical roots. To my knowledge, there are (virtually) no published “history-level” books or articles that totally ignore ED’s poems and their poetic levels.

Of course, ED’s refusal to publish her poems was only possible because of lifelong financial and daily social/housekeeping support by her family, especially her father and sister, respectively. In addition, 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 of ED's poems can be enhanced by understanding both poetic and historical levels of her sound and sense. We impoverish ourselves if we ignore their historical base.