858.1864.Time feels so vast that were it not

Time feels so vast that were it not
For an Eternity—
I fear me this Circumference
Engross my Finity’—

To His exclusion, who prepare
By Processes of Size
For the Stupendous Vision
Of his diameters—
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My interpretation of ‘Time feels so vast that were it not’, F858:

Stanza 1.

Time feels so vast that were it not
For an Eternity—
I fear me this Circumference
Engross my Finity’—

S1.

[EDLex def. 4 of “Eternity”: Timelessness; all encompassing time, including before birth and after death. E.D. describes it as an ocean upon an ocean and yet a further ocean. J695, F720.]

Time goes on forever and were it not for eternity, I fear the hugeness of it all might engulf my simple sanity . . . [Stanza 1 enjambs with Stanza 2]

Stanza 2.

To His exclusion, who prepare
By {Rudiments} of Size
For the Stupendous Vision
Of his diameters—

S2.

. . . to my exclusion of God, who created our world increment by increment, and we are left with a “stupendous vision”: His wonders never cease.

[“Wonders never cease” is reminiscent of verses about God’s unending mercies, such as Lamentations 3:22–23 (“His mercies never come to an end”). Google AI]

Note: In Line 6, “{Rudiments}” in curly brackets is ED’s alternate word for “Processes”, and I prefer it because it feels more descriptive than vague “Processes”.
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Five EDLex definitions, all but the last capitalized in F858. A bunch words for such a short poem, but that’s ED for ya:

Eternity

1. Immortality; heaven; a period of time or state of being which the soul enters at death, which is never-ending.

2. Pre-existence; a period of time which occurred before birth, which has no beginning.

3. Endlessness; a space or period of time felt to be endless [more commonplace than def. D.]

4. Timelessness; all encompassing time, including before birth and after death. E.D. describes it as an ocean upon an ocean and yet a further ocean [see J695, F720]; [Spiritual connotations.]

Circumference

1. Navigation; circuit; circular motion; journey in a circular pattern; going around in circles; [fig.] wandering; migration; flight of departure and returning.

2. Horizon; periphery; the girth of the world; the circle of the earth’s globe; the whole circular surface of the earth including the sea and the land.

3. Zone; area; boundary; restriction; constraint; restraint; demarcation; delimitation; outer limit; the space included within a circle; [fig.] mortality; a lifetime; a succession of events; cycles of nature, mortality, and earth life.

4. Eternity; the ultimate reality; the life beyond; the all-encompassing circle of existence.

5. Edge of the sky; atmosphere which surrounds the earth; the sky as it encircles the globe; the cycles of air, wind, and clouds; the air currents which carry creatures in flight; the relationship of the earth to the sun.

6. Influence; sphere of action; [fig.] periphrasis; circumlocution; metaphorical extensions; lines of poetry; text in relation to context; connections that go beyond words; words as symbols for aspects of existence; meanings that lie within the limits of words; [fig.] polysemy; semantic connotations that go beyond the core meaning of a word; [metaphor] experience; reality; enlightenment; intelligence; revelation; inspiration; wisdom.

7. Perimeter; geometric line that bounds a circle; a single curved line that forms an encompassing boundary; the finite line that goes around in 360 degrees; the whole area enclosed by a circular line or spherical limit; the whole exterior surface of a round body; [fig.] experience; frontier; outlook.

8. Finitude; reality; exact dimensions of life; irrefutable aspects of reality; indisputable facts of existence; [paradox] infinitude; countless lines, planes, degrees, arcs, angles, diameters, projections, intersections, and repetitions of circles from a finite point.

9. Skull; round body; globe; spherical container.

10. Border; margin; diameter; [fig.] arc of space; projection linking separate entities; line connecting a single being to an experience in a certain place; [metaphor] memory; music beyond words; communication beyond eloquence.

11. Perspective; view; vista; ability to protract an infinite number of concentric circles from one specific point; [fig.] greater understanding; elevated awareness; broader view; expanded perception of life.

12. Comprehension; understanding; [personification] wonderful companion; cause of respect, admiration, and amazement.

13. Circumspection; discretion; cautiousness; secret realm; hidden core; inner vision; center of being; different way of perceiving.

Finity

1. Instance of finiteness or limitation; [fig.] mortal life; short existence.

Stupendous

Latin. ‘that is to be wondered at, amazing’.

1. Astonishing; amazing; astounding; marvelous.

diameter

OFr < Gk. διάμετρος, diagonal of a parallelogram or circle.

1. Line; diagonal; straight line passing through the center of a circle; geometrical measurement.

WOW! “UNKLE!”, as wrestlers yell on defeat.
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So many words from such a little “wren” [JL268; ED compared herself to a wren in her July 1862 letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

The quote — Responding to Higginson’s request for a photograph or portrait, ED famously wrote:

“I had no portrait, now, but am small, like the Wren, and my Hair is bold, like the Chestnut Bur—and my eyes, like the Sherry in the Glass, that the Guest leaves—Would this do just as well?” Google AI]
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Perhaps germane?

Circumference, C, is mysteriously related to diameter, d, by a weird irrational number, π (Pi, approximately (3.14159265…), the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter:

C = πd.

The value of the constant “π” has been estimated more or less accurately for at least 4000 years, first by the Babylonians
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I know, overcommenting, but . . .

“Tempus fugit” is a Latin phrase that translates to “time flies,” though the literal meaning of fugit is “flees” or “runs away”.
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How does ED engender so many memories? This first stanza takes me back 70 years to one of the loveliest love songs of all Time, “Unchained Melodies”. There are hundreds of recordings around the world, and here is one of the best:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-idDbIfGvw .
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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.