890.1864. A Coffin — is a small Domain

890.1864. A Coffin — is a small Domain.LSB

A Coffin — is a small Domain,
Yet able to contain
A Citizen {Rudiment} of Paradise
In it’s diminished Plane.

A Grave — is a restricted {an inferior} Breadth —
Yet ampler than the Sun —
And all the Seas He [Sun] populates
And Lands He looks upon

To Him [a person] who on its small {low} Repose
Bestows {Conferred} a single Friend —
Circumference without Relief —
Or Estimate — or End —
………………………………………………………..

My interpretation of F890B

Stanza 1.

A Coffin — is a small Domain,
Yet able to contain
A Citizen of Paradise
In it diminished Plane.

S1.

A coffin is a small domain, yet it is able to contain a person of great stature in its small frame.

Stanza 2.

A Grave — is a restricted Breadth —
Yet ampler than the Sun —small
And all the Seas He [Sun] populates
And Lands He looks upon

S2.

A grave may be restricted in size but the person in it may be bigger than the sun, the sea, and all the land the sun shines on.

Stanza 3.

To Him who on its small Repose
Bestows a single Friend —
Circumference without Relief —
Or Estimate — or End —

S3. Anyone who puts a friend in a coffin may obsess in painful circles without relief, or measure, or end.

In toto:

A coffin is a small domain, yet it is able to contain a person of great stature in its diminished frame. A grave may be restricted in size but the person in it may be bigger than the sun, the sea, and all the land the sun shines on. Anyone who puts a friend in a coffin may obsess in circles without relief, or measure, or end.
……………………………………………………………………………………

ED Lexicon gives 13 definitions for “circumference”. I think “Circumference” in Line 7 could fit Def. 1e, “going around in circles:

Navigation; circuit; circular motion; journey in a circular pattern; going around in circles; [fig.] wandering; migration; flight of departure and returning.
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.
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.
Eternity; the ultimate reality; the life beyond; the all-encompassing circle of existence.
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.
Influence; sphere of action; [fig.] periphrasis [indirectness]; 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 (OED founder Richard Trench explains that synonyms are circles “with the same centre and the same circumference”); [metaphor] experience; reality; enlightenment; intelligence; revelation; inspiration; wisdom.
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.
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.
Skull; round body; globe; spherical container.
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.
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.
Comprehension; understanding; [personification] wonderful companion; cause of respect, admiration, and amazement.
Circumspection; discretion; cautiousness; secret realm; hidden core; inner vision; center of being; different way of perceiving.
……………………………………………………………………………

ED composed 16 “Circumference Poems”:

#           F #        Year     Title
1           283      1862    I should have been too glad, I see—
2           571      1863    Two Butterflies went out at Noon
3           601      1863    When Bells stop ringing – Church – begins –
4           610      1863    From Cocoon forth a Butterfly
5           633      1863    I saw no Way – The Heavens were stitched –
6           653      1863    No Crowd that has occurred
7           669      1863    An ignorance a Sunset
8           833      1864    Pain – expands the Time –
9           853      1864    She staked Her Feathers – Gained an Arc –
10         890      1864    A Coffin – is a small Domain
11         930      1865    The Poets light but Lamps –
12         1067    1865    Crisis is a Hair
13         1099    1865    At Half past Three, a single Bird
14         1297    1873    A Single Clover Plank
15         1636    1884    Circumference thou Bride of Awe
16         1730    ????     His mind of man, a secret makes

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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.