On the Bleakness of my Lot Bloom I strove to raise – Late – my Garden {Acre} of a Rock Yielded Grape – and Maise –
Soil of Flint, if steady {steadfast} tilled
Will refund {reward, repay} the Hand –
Seed of Palm, by Lybian Sun Fructified in Sand –
…………………………………………………………………………………….
I think this poem (F862) is only superficially about ED’s garden. It is well known that ED experienced four years (1861-1865) of emotional and mental pain that fueled a prodigious outburst of poems:
As she told Higginson in her second letter to him (JL261, April 25, 1862):
“I had a terror—since September—I could tell to none—and so I sing, as the Boy does by the Burying Ground—because I am afraid—”.
Something horrible happened to ED in September 1861. I think Reverend Charles Wadsworth told her he would be moving to San Francisco in 1862 to pastor the new, struggling Calvary Presbyterian Church, triggering her well documented separation anxiety.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
My biographical interpretation of F862, ‘On the bleakness of my lot’, with ED’s alternative words in {curly brackets}:
Stanza 1:
On the Bleakness of my Lot
Bloom I strove to raise –
Late – my Garden {Acre} of a Rock
Yielded Grape – and Maise –
S1:
In Line 1, “On the Bleakness of my Lot”, the meaning of “Lot” can be interpreted as the area of her garden or it can be interpreted as the cards life has dealt her. I think ED means her “Lot” in life. She spent five years cultivating her relationship with Wadsworth by mail – the “Bloom I strove to raise”, which yielded a visit from the superstar minister from Philadelphia in summer, 1860.
As I have argued in several earlier comments, e.g., F860, 1864, “No Notice gave She, but a Change —“, they consummated their [her imagined?] long-distance love affair that evening in the Dickinson orchard, after which he took the train 12 miles back to Northampton where was visiting his best friend. He then returned to Philadelphia by train, a trip of 250 miles.
Line 3 further supports the “Lot in life” interpretation because her “Garden” was not a “Rock”. Before 1813, her grandfather had purchased a large lot that probably was forested with eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), the usual early-successional species of tree in western New England. (See 849.1864.By my Window have I for Scenery).
The original late-successional hardwoods – eastern red oak (Quercus rubus), Chestnut (Castanea dentata), and hickories (Carya spp.) – would have been cut during the late 1700s to build Amherst (fully incorporated in 1775).
ED’s grandfather would have chosen the gentle south slope for ‘Homestead’ because of its uneroded soil and south aspect that would catch the New England winter sun. These biographical details immediately inform us that this poem is not about ED’s garden but about “the Bleakness of my Lot” in life. When ED tells us “my Acre of Rock”, she is probably speaking about Wadsworth not responding to her pleas for him to visit again:
“Wont he [you] come to her-or will he let her seek him, never minding [whatever] so long wandering [out] if to him at last.” (Master Letter F2, J3, early 1861).
“Could you come to New England- [this summer-could] would you come to Amherst – Would you like to come – Master?” (Master Letter F3, J2, summer 1861).
Twenty years later, in 1880, Wadsworth did make a second visit to Amherst in response to ED’s camouflaged invitation:
1485.1879.Spurn the temerity (F1485, 1879)
“Spurn the temerity –
Rashness of Calvary –
Gay were Gethsemane
Knew we of thee –“
Yes, in 1864, ED can raise maize or grapes, but not the “Bloom I strove to raise”, which was love.
Stanza 2:
Soil of Flint, if steady {steadfast} tilled
Will refund {reward, repay} the Hand –
Seed of Palm, by Lybian Sun
Fructified in Sand –
S2
In Line 5, I prefer ED’s original “steady” because her alternate “steadfast” seems wrong for an adverb for “tilled”. In Line 6 I prefer her alternate word, “reward” because, if Wadsworth did visit, it would be a “reward”, not a repayment of a debt he owes her. The very fact that she left “refund” as her verb suggests she viewed their relationship as transactional, but no one ever said ED was socially skilled.
862.1864.On the Bleakness of my Lot
On the Bleakness of my Lot
Bloom I strove to raise –
Late – my Garden {Acre} of a Rock
Yielded Grape – and Maise –
Soil of Flint, if steady {steadfast} tilled
Will refund {reward, repay} the Hand –
Seed of Palm, by Lybian Sun
Fructified in Sand –
…………………………………………………………………………………….
I think this poem (F862) is only superficially about ED’s garden. It is well known that ED experienced four years (1861-1865) of emotional and mental pain that fueled a prodigious outburst of poems:
1850 1
1852 1
1853 1
1854 1
1855 0
1856 0
1857 0
1858 43
1859 82
1860 54
1861 88
1862 227
1863 295
1864 98
1865 229
1866 10
1867 12
1868 11
1869 11
1870 28
1871 48
1872 35
1873 38
1874 38
1875 34
1876 31
1877 42
1878 23
1879 35
1880 26
1881 25
1882 27
1883 34
1884 42
1885 13
1886 2
Total 1789
As she told Higginson in her second letter to him (JL261, April 25, 1862):
“I had a terror—since September—I could tell to none—and so I sing, as the Boy does by the Burying Ground—because I am afraid—”.
Something horrible happened to ED in September 1861. I think Reverend Charles Wadsworth told her he would be moving to San Francisco in 1862 to pastor the new, struggling Calvary Presbyterian Church, triggering her well documented separation anxiety.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
My biographical interpretation of F862, ‘On the bleakness of my lot’, with ED’s alternative words in {curly brackets}:
Stanza 1:
On the Bleakness of my Lot
Bloom I strove to raise –
Late – my Garden {Acre} of a Rock
Yielded Grape – and Maise –
S1:
In Line 1, “On the Bleakness of my Lot”, the meaning of “Lot” can be interpreted as the area of her garden or it can be interpreted as the cards life has dealt her. I think ED means her “Lot” in life. She spent five years cultivating her relationship with Wadsworth by mail – the “Bloom I strove to raise”, which yielded a visit from the superstar minister from Philadelphia in summer, 1860.
As I have argued in several earlier comments, e.g., F860, 1864, “No Notice gave She, but a Change —“, they consummated their [her imagined?] long-distance love affair that evening in the Dickinson orchard, after which he took the train 12 miles back to Northampton where was visiting his best friend. He then returned to Philadelphia by train, a trip of 250 miles.
Line 3 further supports the “Lot in life” interpretation because her “Garden” was not a “Rock”. Before 1813, her grandfather had purchased a large lot that probably was forested with eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), the usual early-successional species of tree in western New England. (See 849.1864.By my Window have I for Scenery).
The original late-successional hardwoods – eastern red oak (Quercus rubus), Chestnut (Castanea dentata), and hickories (Carya spp.) – would have been cut during the late 1700s to build Amherst (fully incorporated in 1775).
ED’s grandfather would have chosen the gentle south slope for ‘Homestead’ because of its uneroded soil and south aspect that would catch the New England winter sun. These biographical details immediately inform us that this poem is not about ED’s garden but about “the Bleakness of my Lot” in life. When ED tells us “my Acre of Rock”, she is probably speaking about Wadsworth not responding to her pleas for him to visit again:
“Wont he [you] come to her-or will he let her seek him, never minding [whatever] so long wandering [out] if to him at last.” (Master Letter F2, J3, early 1861).
“Could you come to New England- [this summer-could] would you come to Amherst – Would you like to come – Master?” (Master Letter F3, J2, summer 1861).
Twenty years later, in 1880, Wadsworth did make a second visit to Amherst in response to ED’s camouflaged invitation:
1485.1879.Spurn the temerity (F1485, 1879)
“Spurn the temerity –
Rashness of Calvary –
Gay were Gethsemane
Knew we of thee –“
Yes, in 1864, ED can raise maize or grapes, but not the “Bloom I strove to raise”, which was love.
Stanza 2:
Soil of Flint, if steady {steadfast} tilled
Will refund {reward, repay} the Hand –
Seed of Palm, by Lybian Sun
Fructified in Sand –
S2
In Line 5, I prefer ED’s original “steady” because her alternate “steadfast” seems wrong for an adverb for “tilled”. In Line 6 I prefer her alternate word, “reward” because, if Wadsworth did visit, it would be a “reward”, not a repayment of a debt he owes her. The very fact that she left “refund” as her verb suggests she viewed their relationship as transactional, but no one ever said ED was socially skilled.