Month: July 2025

786.1877.Autumn — overlooked my Knitting —

ED’s alternate words and phrase in parentheses (Lines 3,4,6,8).

Autumn — overlooked my Knitting —
Dyes — said He — have I —
Could disparage (dishonor) a Flamingo —
Show Me them (Give them Me)— said I —

Cochineal — I chose — for deeming
It (That) resemble Thee —
And the little Border — Dusker —
For resembling (That resemble) Me —

In Stanza 1, I prefer ED’s original words, but I much prefer her alternate word and phrase in Stanza 2.

Capitalized “He” in Line 2 logically refers to Autumn but metaphorically may also refer to the referent of “Thee” in Line 6.

Capitalized “Thee” in Line 6 probably refers to ED’s revered “Master”, not “Autumn”, because “Thee” in Line 6 is probably Reverend Charles Wadsworth, whose brilliant words burned brighter in her mind than her “little Border — Dusker —”. Wadsworth’s mesmerizing sermons overfilled his churches every Sunday.

Since her death in 1886, ED too has filled her church of readers, and her words are not “Dusker”, despite her self-deprecating claim in Lines 7-8.

PS1:    It’s nice to see ED’s early infatuation with Wadsworth becoming a revered friendship that lasted until she died (JL1040 to Charles Clark, April 15, 1886).

PS2:    In contrast to American grammar, British grammar logically places commas outside quote marks unless they logically belong inside, which is my preference also. An example is [“Master”,] in the last paragraph of the above explication.

785.1863.It dropped so low — in my Regard —

It dropped so low — in my Regard —
I heard it hit the Ground —
And go to pieces on the Stones
At bottom of my Mind —

Yet blamed the Fate that flung it — less
Than I denounced Myself,
For entertaining Plated Wares
Upon My Silver Shelf —

ED’s original 1863 ink copy in Fascicle 37 and 1880 penciled alternatives in parentheses:

It dropped so low — in my Regard —
I heard it hit the Ground —
And go to pieces on the Stones
At bottom of my Mind — (in the ditch)

Yet blamed the Fate that fractured (flung it) — less
Than I reviled (denounced) Myself,
For entertaining Plated Wares
Upon My Silver Shelf —

For the first time, ED did not copy her alternative words and phrases in ink at the same time she copied her poem. Instead, she waited 17 years (1880) and then penciled her alternatives between her original ink lines.

Both Johnson (1955, ‘Complete Poems’) and Franklin (1998, ‘Poems of Emily Dickinson’) published Line 4 without using ED’s 1880 alternate phrase, which was their standard protocol, but they published her 1880 alternates in Lines 5 and 6, which was definitely not their usual protocol. They may have been “protecting Emily” by ignoring protocol in Lines 5 and 6 and not in Line 4. Whatever their reasons, they improved her poem:

Original Stanza 1 sounds better than

“It dropped so low — in my Regard —
I heard it hit the Ground —
And go to pieces (in the Ditch)
At bottom of my Mind —”

And modified Stanza 2 sounds better than her original (above):

“Yet blamed the Fate that (flung it) — less
Than I (denounced) Myself,
For entertaining Plated Wares
Upon My Silver Shelf —”

Line 6, “Than I reviled myself”, may reveal how ED felt in 1863, but apparently she had mellowed by 1880.

The postcendant of “It” (Line 1) is “Plated Wares” (Line 7), a metaphor for “anything you once fell for” but no longer revere (Adam DeGraff, AKA d. scribe). “It” may be ED’s adolescent romantic infatuation (at age 25-32) with Rev. Charles Wadsworth, which I think is the seed of this poem, or the unfinished quality of the poem itself, which ED apparently realized in 1880, or, something else.

There must be a reason ED would juxtapose this poem, F785 (Poem 13), an initially flawed text but objective truism, with F784 (Poem 12), a “Mulling Suicide” poem that seems a painful cry for help,  Perhaps she’s reminding herself of where she’s been (sidetracked by infatuation, “Plated Wares”) and where she wants to go (poetic immortality). It’s inconceivable to me she composed these two poems contemporaneously, despite their copied  juxtaposition in Fascicle 37 and identical estimated copy dates (“about late 1863”).

784.1863.I sometimes drop it, for a Quick –

 I  sometimes drop it, for a Quick –
The Thought to be alive –
Anonymous Delight to know –
And Madder – to conceive –

A Reef – crawled easy from the Sea
Eats off the Brittle Line –
The Sailor doesn’t know the Stroke –
Until He’s past the Pain –

“Delirium – diverts the Wretch / For Whom the Scaffold neighs –”:

Occam’s Razor suggests “neighs –” is simply ED’s notorious misspelling of “nighs”.

ED’s father championed building “Insane Asylums”, a euphemism for “Mad House”, as they were then termed. Good thing he didn’t see ED’s poem, which we might dub ‘Mulling Suicide’.

An interpretation of ‘I sometimes drop it, for a Quick –’:

ED offers no alternate words. Parenthesized words are definitions from ED Lexicon; square brackets are my edits.

I sometimes drop [mulling suicide], for a Quick [respite from Wo] –
The Thought to be alive  –
(Unknown) Delight to know –
And (Insaner)– to conceive –

[“The Thought to be alive”] (Relieves) a Wo so monstrous
That did it (weep) all Day
Without an instant’s Respite –
[Death would look too far – to wait – ]

(Insanity) – diverts the Wretch
For Whom the Scaffold neighs [nighs]
The Hammock’s motion lulls the Heads
So close on Paradise –

(Adversity) – crawled easy from the Sea
Eats off the (Feeble Cable) –
The Sailor doesn’t know the (End) –
Until He’s past the Pain –

I think the postcendant of “It” (Line 1) is “Plated Wares” (Line 7), a metaphor for “anything you once fell for” but no longer revere (Adam DeGraff, AKA, d. scribe). “It” may be ED’s adolescent romantic infatuation (at age 25-32) with Rev. Charles Wadsworth, which I think is the seed of this poem, or the unfinished quality of the poem itself, which ED apparently realized in 1880.

There is a reason ED would juxtapose in Fascicle 37 this poem, F785 (Poem 13), an initially flawed text but objective truism, with F784 (Poem 12), a painful cry for help, a “Mulling Suicide” poem. It’s inconceivable to me she composed these two poems contemporaneously, despite their consecutive positions and estimated copy date (about late 1863). Perhaps she’s reminding herself of where she’s been sidetracked by infatuation, “Plated Wares”, and where she wants to go, poetic immortality.

Franklin’s (1998) format for lines-per-stanza (4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5) differs from the TPB format for this poem. After close examination of ED’s three-page manuscript, I think Franklin got it right. (ED’s alternate words parentheses and my interpretation in brackets):

1. To know just how He suffered – would be dear –
2. To know if any Human eyes were near
3. To whom He could entrust His wavering gaze –
4. Until it settled broad – (full – • firm -) on Paradise –

5. To know if He was patient – part content –
6. Was Dying as He thought – or different –
7. Was it a pleasant Day to die –
8. And did the Sunshine face His way –

9. What was His furthest mind – of Home – or God –
10. Or What the Distant say –
11. At News that He ceased Human Nature
12. Such a Day-

13. And Wishes – Had He any –
14. Just His Sigh – accented
15. Had been legible – to Me –
16. And was He Confident until
17. Ill fluttered out – in [fluttered] Everlasting Well –

18. And if He spoke -What name was Best –
19. What last (first)
20. What one broke off with
21. At the Drowsiest –

22. Was he afraid – or tranquil –
23. Might He know
24. How Conscious Consciousness – could grow –
25. Till Love that was – and Love too best to be –
26. Meet – and the Junction be (mean) Eternity

ED’s obsession with how people die, what they do, what they say, how they behave, occasionally appeared in her letters and poems. This poem, F688, demonstrates ED’s fascination with Ars Moriendi, The Art of Dying. What sets this poem apart is that the capitalized “He” (& “His”) hadn’t died yet (Lines 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 23). Nevertheless, ED wondered what Reverend Charles Wadsworth (1814-1882), the love of her life, will say and do as he dies. (ED honored only God, Jesus, and Rev. Wadsworth with capitalized pronouns.)

ED closed the poem (Line 26) with a restatement of her infirm belief that she and He will

“Meet – and the Junction be Eternity”

that is, in Heaven. She first explicitly stated that belief in F431 1862, ‘If I may have it when it’s dead’ (Stanza 3):

“Think of it Lover! I and Thee
Permitted – face to face to be –
After a Life – a Death – we’ll say –
For Death was That –
And this – is Thee –”

So well that I can live without –
I love thee – then How well is that?
As well as Jesus?
Prove it me
That He – loved Men –
As I – love thee –

Who is lowercase “thee” (Lines 2 and 8), and at whom is the imperative “Prove it me” aimed? In her poems, ED honored Jesus, God, and Reverend Charles Wadsworth by capitalizing their referring pronouns (Line 7). Her friend and sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert, was a lifelong committed Christian, and ED was not; hence, I suspect Sue is “thee” and ED’s imperative target for Line 6: “ Prove it me”!

I hear a note of pique in this poem. It sounds like a lover’s confrontation to me, which is likely given Sue’s distancing from ED during the first ten years or so of her marriage to Austin (1856-1895).

There’s something odd about the capitalized “How” in Line 2. ED crunched this six-line poem into the bottom third of a page of small manuscript paper in Fascicle 32. She also apparently intentionally raised the “How well is that ?” part of Line 2 slightly above the first part, as if she intended a new line but saw she would run out of room for the poem’s last line, so converted the two enjambed lines into one line.

In 1929, Martha Dickinson Bianci, ED’s niece, published this poem for the first time in ‘Further Poems’. She recognized the enjambed nature of Line 2 but lower-cased “How” without starting a new line and oddly split the end of Line 2 into two lines:

“So well that I can live without —
I love Thee; then how well
Is that?
As well as Jesus?
Prove it me
That He loved men
As I love Thee.”

I suspect ED envisioned a seven-line septet or a two-quatrain poem:

“So well that I can live without —
I love Thee – then
How well is that?
As well as Jesus?
Prove it me
That He loved men
As I love Thee.”

or,

“So well that I can live without —
I love Thee – then
How well
Is that?

As well as Jesus?
Prove it me
That He loved men
As I love Thee.”

Alternate words in parentheses:

Don’t put up my Thread & Needle –
I’ll begin to Sow
When the Birds begin to whistle –
Better stitches – so –

These were bent – my sight got crooked –
When my mind – is plain
I’ll do seams – a Queen’s endeavor
Would not blush to own –

Hems – too fine for Lady’s tracing
To the sightless Knot –
Tucks – of dainty interspersion –
Like a dotted Dot –

Leave  my Needle in the furrow –
Where I put it down –
I can make the zigzag stitches
Straight – when I am strong –

Till then – dreaming (deeming) I am sewing
Fetch the seam I missed –
Closer – so I – at my sleeping – (sighing –)
Still surmise I stitch –

My take is that this poem is not about sewing or eyesight, but about ED healing from winter depression (‘When Night is almost done’, F679, ). She looks forward to spring’s abundant sunlight when her winter funk will heal and she can compose with her former facility.

An interpretation:

Don’t take my paper and pencil
I’ll begin composing
In spring when birds begin to sing,
Better poems too

My recent poems were “bent” – my mind was troubled.
When my brain clears
I’ll compose poems Royalty
Would not blush to own.

Poems too skillful for ‘my Lady’
To find slant rhymes,
Concealed thoughts interspersed
Like dotted dots

Leave my pencil on the table
Where I put it down
I can make the poems sing
When my mind clears –

Till then I’ll dream I’m composing,
Improving lines I bungled
With better words, so I, when my mind clears
Can really write.

McDermotte (2001) analyzed ED’s seasonal periodicity of poem production during eight years, 1858-1864, and concluded [brackets mine]:

“Her 8-year period of productivity was marked by two 4-year phases. The first [1858-1861] shows a seasonal pattern characterized by greater creative output in spring and summer and a lesser output during the fall and winter. This pattern was interrupted by an emotional crisis that marked the beginning of the second phase (1862-1865), a four-year sustained period of greatly heightened productivity and the emergence of a revolutionary poetic style.”

Rereading Susan Kornfeld’s explication on TPB, especially its excellent biographic sketch, compels me to agree, ED’s malady is probably vision, but wouldn’t ailing eyesight drive most poets into a sterile funk? I say “most” because John Milton (1608-1674) gradually lost his sight during the 1650s and was completely blind by 1660, yet composed ‘Paradise Lost’ from 1658-1664 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milton). ED owned a copy of ”Paradise Lost” and “knew Milton’s great poem very well”.

John F. McDermott, M.D., 2001. Emily Dickinson Revisited: A Study of Periodicity in Her Work. American Journal of Psychiatry. 158: 686–690.