719.1863.If He were living—dare I ask—

If He were living—dare I ask—
And how if He be dead—
And so around the Words I went—
Of meeting them—afraid—

I hinted Changes—Lapse of Time—
The Surfaces of Years—
I touched with Caution—lest they crack—
And show me to my fears—

Reverted to adjoining Lives—
Adroitly turning out
Wherever I suspected Graves—
‘Twas prudenter—I thought—

And He—I pushed—with sudden force—
In face of the Suspense—
“Was buried”—”Buried”! “He!”
My Life just holds the Trench—

Scenario – ED has written letters and composed poems and mailed them to Charles Wadsworth in San Francisco but has heard nothing in reply. Her anger and her love collide – and love wins.

Stanza 1 – I imagine the worst: CW has died in San Francisco. Words fail me; I’m afraid.

Stanza 2 – I wrote him anyway, trying to be strong. “I hinted Changes” that have happened for me: “Lapse of Time”, old wounds healed; years have come and gone. I touched these topics cautiously, “lest they crack” [I learn the truth] – “And show me to my [worst] fears”.

Stanza 3 – In case he or a member of his family has died, “’Twas prudenter – I thought –” / “Reverted to adjoining [nearby] Lives – / Adroitly turning out”

Stanza 4 – “And He I pushed with sudden force / In face of the Suspense [my fear] / [that He] “Was buried” – “Buried”! “He!” / [If He is dead,] My Life holds the [his burial] Trench.”

The phrase, “adjoining Lives”, in Stanza 3 probably refers to “James D. Clark, perhaps Wadsworth’s closest friend” who lived in Northampton, MA, 12 miles southwest of Amherst (Thompson 2018). The Belchertown Railroad connected the two towns in 1853.

By pure coincidence, ED’s father had had business dealings with James D. Clark and had introduced ED to him at Homestead. Whatever the purpose of Clark’s call, it must have taken place between 1858 and 1863” (Habegger 2002).

“One of the poet’s memorable encounters occurred when James [D. Clark] . . . showed up at the Dickinson mansion: “I could scarcely have believed, the Morning you called with Mr Brownell,” she wrote some two decades later [L1048, To James D. Clark, Mar 15, 1883], “that I should eventually speak with you, and you only, with the exception of my Sister, of my dearest earthly friend [Wadsworth].” (Habegger 2002)

• (Thompson, Casey.2018, https://waynepres.org/article/the-story-of-emily-dickinson-and-rev-charles-wadsworth).

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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.