612.1863.’Tis Opposites — Entice —

612.1863.’Tis Opposites — Entice —

‘Tis Opposites — Entice —
Deformed Men — ponder Grace —
Bright fires — the Blanketless —
The Lost — Day’s face —

The Blind — esteem it be
Enough Estate — to see —
The Captive — strangles new —
For deeming — Beggars — play —

To lack — enamor Thee —
Tho’ the Divinity —
Be only
Me —

 

Line 1’s clichéd proposition (opposites attract) suggests Stanza 3’s “Thee” and “Me” could contrast prosaic with poetic personalities. However, Line 10’s capitalized “Divinity” brings to mind a conservative Christian preacher, “Thee” (Wadsworth), and a non-believing “Me” (ED), polar opposites regarding Christian “Fiction” (previous poem, F611).

Stanza 3 consists of four visually and numerically shortening lines of 4, 3, 2, 1 words with all lines perfect rhymes: “Thee”, “Divinity”, “only”, “Me”. Dazzling pyrotechnics, no?

I suspect ED’s skeptical search for life’s meaning, expressed in her pre-1860 letters to Wadsworth, is what “Enticed”/“Enamored” him to visit her at ‘Homestead’ in summer 1860.

613.1863.The Day that I was crowned

613.1863.The Day that I was crowned

The Day that I was crowned
Was like the other Days —
Until the Coronation came —
And then — ’twas Otherwise —

As Carbon in the Coal
And Carbon in the Gem
Are One — and yet the former
Were dull for Diadem —

I rose, and all was plain —
But when the Day declined
Myself and It, in Majesty
Were equally — adorned —

The Grace that I — was chose —
To Me — surpassed the Crown
That was the Witness for the Grace —
‘Twas even that ’twas Mine —

During summer 1860. Reverend Charles Wadsworth visited ED at the Dickinson’s “Homestead” in Amherst. My guess is that his visit was “The Day that I was crowned” (Line 1, F613). I think that in ED’s fertile imagination, “Diadem” was a codeword for “Mrs.”. Supporting that contention, Poem F194 (1861), “Title divine, is mine”, begins:

“Title divine, is mine.
The Wife without the Sign –
Acute Degree conferred on me –
Empress of Calvary –
Royal, all but the Crown –
Betrothed, without the Swoon
God gives us Women –
. . . . ”

After that summer day in 1860, ED was convinced Wadsworth had told her that they could marry when they met in Heaven. Meanwhile, ED resigned herself to a life of chastity, “Betrothed, without the swoon / God gives us Women”. After about 1862 she wore only white, and she was buried in a white coffin in 1886.

From 1861-1863, ED used capitalized “Diadem” in 13 poems, skipped the years 1864-1865, and in 1866 she used “Diadem” in one poem, F1121. She never used the word in a poem before 1861 or after 1866. She capitalized “Diadem” in all 14 poems. Clearly, “Diadem” was important to ED during 1861-1863 and in 1866, but not before or after those years.

“Diadem” was also one of Wadsworth’s favorite words. He used it in an estimated 56 sermons during 33 years of preaching, 1850-1882. He used it in 20 sermons he delivered in San Francisco, 1862-1869. After he returned to Philadelphia in 1869, he used the word “diadem” in 15 published sermons, for a total of 35 sermons in 20 years. If, in his first 12 years of ministry (Philadelphia, 1850-1862), he used the word at the same rate, his lifetime total use of “diadem” was about 56 times in 33 years of ministry.

In 1941, without benefit of computer word search, Mary Barbot concluded: “Somewhat impressive, also, is Wadsworth’s use of [one] of Emily Dickinson’s favorite words, ‘diadem’, no less than thirty times” (Barbot, 1941).

Today, Barbot would have to conclude: “Somewhat impressive, also, is Dickinson’s use of ‘Diadem’, one of Wadsworth’s favorite words, no less than 14 times in six years of poetry, 1861-1866. He used the word approximately 56 times in 33 years of ministry”.

As always, evidence of Wadsworth’s influence on ED is circumstantial, but 1861-1866 is exactly the period of ED’s manic turmoil. During those six years ED wrote 947 poems, well over half of her 36-year career total. It is worth noting that Wadsworth and family set sail from New York Harbor on May 1, 1862, bound for San Francisco, where they lived for nine years.

ED thought she was never going to see Reverend Charles Wadsworth again. Her 14th and last “Diadem” poem (F1121, 1866), bids him an angry but sad sayonara:

“The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean.
A Travelling Flake of Snow
Across a Barn or through a Rut
Debates if it will go —

A Narrow Wind complains all Day
How some one treated him
Nature, like Us is sometimes caught
Without her Diadem”

The word “him” is a gender switch, one of ED’s favorite camouflage tricks.

When Charles Wadsworth died in 1882, ED sent his best friend, James Clark, Letter 994, containing this sentence: “He was my Shepherd from “Little Girl”hood and I cannot conjecture a world without him, so noble was he always – so fathomless – so gentle.” (L994 to James D. Clark, August 22, 1882).

She was wrong about never seeing him again. In summer 1880 he showed up unexpectedly at her front door, but that’s another story.

 

ED’s 14 “Diadem” poems  (Franklin Number, Franklin Year, Title):

  1. F124, 1861, Safe in their Alabaster Chambers
  2. F246, 1861, The Sun – just touched the Morning
  3. F248, 1861, One life of so much consequence!
  4. F253, 1861, I’m ceded – I’ve stopped being Theirs’s –
  5. F254, 1861, A Mien to move a Queen –
  6. F267, 1861, Rearrange a “Wife’s” Affection!
  7. F385, 1862, I’ll clutch – and clutch –
  8. F418, 1863, Your Riches – taught me – Poverty.
  9. F481, 1863, Fame of Myself, to justify,
  10. F553, 1863, When Diamonds are a Legend,
  11. F597, 1863, ‘Tis little I – could care for Pearls –
  12. F600, 1863, Her – last Poems –
  13. F613, 1863, Were dull for Diadem –
  14. F1121, 1866, The Sky is low – the Clouds are mean.

 

  1. Barbot, Mary E. 1941. Emily Dickinson Parallels. The New England Quarterly. 14(4): 689-696.
  2. Franklin, R.W. 1999. The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition. Harvard University Press. Kindle Edition. 1040 pp.

611.1863.Her sweet Weight on my Heart a Night

Her sweet Weight on my Heart a Night
Had scarcely deigned to lie —
When, stirring, for Belief’s delight,
My Bride had slipped away —

If ’twas a Dream — made solid — just
The Heaven to confirm —
Or if Myself were dreamed of Her —
The power to presume —

With Him remain — who unto Me —
Gave — even as to All —
A Fiction superseding Faith —
By so much — as ’twas real —

 

In ‘The Prowling Bee’ blog, Susan Kornfeld concludes an amazing explication of ‘Her sweet Weight’ with a caveat: “I don’t think a biographical interpretation adds much to the poem.” For me, the exact fit of Stanza 1 to ED’s life from 1847 to 1853 enriches my understanding of the entire poem.

ED met Sue at Amherst Academy in fall 1847 when both were 17. Their relationship quickly developed into deep friendship (philia) because of their shared love of poetry. In a January 1855 letter (L181), ED admitted “I love you as dearly, Susie, as when love first began, on the step at the front door, and under the Evergreens” (summer 1850). There is evidence, but not proof, in ED’s letters and poems that their relationship had become sexual (eros).

After Sue’s engagement to Austin in March 1853, she cooled her relationship with ED, much to ED’s chagrin.  Apparently, those 30+ months before Sue’s engagement felt like a dream to a love-starved ED, and for years afterward she felt abandoned. That history, which ED universalized in this poem, underlies ‘Her sweet Weight’.

“Belief’s delight” in Line 3 may refer to Sue’s bourgeoning acceptance of contemporary Christianity morality.

ED’s “Him” in Line 9 echoes Master Letter F3 (Summer 1861): “God made me- [Sir] Master-I did’nt be-myself. I dont know how it was done. He built the heart in me”.

ED’s “Fiction superseding Faith” in Line 11 is her dream, but her dream derives from her history.

Franklin, RW (ed). 1986. The Master Letters of Emily Dickinson. Amherst College Press

1.1850.Awake ye muses nine

Valentine week, 1850

Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine,
Unwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine!

Oh the Earth was made for lovers, for damsel, and hopeless swain,
For sighing, and gentle whispering, and unity made of twain
All things do go a courting, in earth, or sea, or air,
God hath made nothing single hut thee in His world so fair!
The bride, and then the bridegroom, the two, and then the one,
Adam, and Eve, his consort, the moon, and then the sun,
The life doth prove the precept, who obey shall happy be,
Who will not serve the sovereign, he hanged on fatal tree.
The high do seek the lowly, the great do seek the small,
None cannot find who seeketh, on this terrestrial ball;
The bee doth court the Rower, the Rower his suit receives,
And they make merry wedding, whose guests are hundred leaves;
The wind doth woo the branches, the branches they are won,
And the father fond demandeth the maiden for his son.
The storm doth walk the seashore humming a mournful tune,
The wave with eye so pensive, looketh to see the moon,
Their spirits meet together, they make their solemn vows,
No more he singeth mournful, her sadness she doth lose.
The worm doth woo the mortal, death claims a living bride,
Night unto day is married, morn unto eventide,
Earth is a merry damsel, and heaven a knight so true.
And Earth is quite coquettish, and heseemeth in vain to sue.
Now to the application, to the reading of the roll,
To bringing thee to justice, and marshalling thy soul:
Thou art a human solo, a being cold, and lone,
Wilt have no kind companion, thou reap’st what thou hast sown.
Hast never silent hours, and minutes all too long,
And a deal of sad reflection, and wailing instead of song?
There’s Sarah, and Eliza, and Emeline so fair,
And Harriet, and Susan, and she with curling hair!
Thine eyes are sadly blinded, but yet thou mayest see
Six true, and comely maidens sitting upon the tree,
Approach that tree with caution, then up it boldly climb,
And seize the one thou lovest, nor care for space, or time!
Then bear her to the greenwood, and build for her a bower,
And give her what she asketh, jewel, or bird, or flower –
And bring the fife, and trumpet, and beat upon the drum –
And bid the world Goodmorrow, and go to glory home!

Elbridge Bowdoin, Edward Dickinson’s junior law partner (1847-1855), was about the same age (mid-20s) as Benjamin Newton, Edward’s intern and ED’s mentor, but Newton was married and Bowdoin was not. Bowdoin, a lifelong bachelor, kept this Valentine poem for 40 years. Given its boldly sensual nature, we know where Emily’s mind was at age 19. But, since childhood, ED has also had something else on her mind – death:

“The worm doth woo the mortal, death claims a living bride”

This early Valentine poem also tells us that Susan Gilbert, an orphaned newcomer to Amherst in 1847, had joined ED’s inner clique of friends by 4 March 1850. Their acquaintance began Fall 1847 when Susan enrolled for one semester at Amherst Academy. Their romantic love probably began summer 1850: “I love you as dearly, Susie, as when love first began, on the step at the front door, and under the Evergreens, and it breaks my heart sometimes, because I do not hear from you” (L181, January 1855). In later poems it may help to know that ED had “curling hair”.

773.1863.Conscious am I in my chamber

Variant A. Sent to Sue; signed Emily; Lines 1-10 (first leaf) missing.
(ED’s alternative words in parentheses)

Nor Myself to Him, by accent
Forfeit probity.
Weariness of Him, were quainter
Than Monotony
Knew a particle, of Space’s
Vast society –
Neither if He visit other –
Do He dwell or nay
Know I – just (But) instinct esteem Him
Immortality

 

Variant B

Conscious am I in my Chamber –
Of a shapeless friend –
He doth not attest by Posture –
Nor confirm – by Word –

Neither Place – need I present Him –
Fitter Courtesy
Hospitable intuition
Of His Company –

Presence – is His furthest license –
Neither He to Me
Nor Myself to Him – by Accent –
Forfeit Probity

Weariness of Him, were quainter
Than Monotony
Knew a Particle – of
Space’s Vast Society –

Neither if He visit Other –
Do He dwell – or Nay – know I-
But Instinct esteem Him (Report Him)
Immortality –

373.1863.Conscious am I in my chamber

Manuscripts: Two (one lost in part), variant, about late 1863. A fair copy signed “Emily” was sent to Susan Dickinson. The first leaf, now missing, carried the first ten lines; the surviving leaf begins with line 11.

Variant A   

Nor Myself to Him, by accent Forfeit probity
Weariness of Him, were quainter
Than Monotony
Knew a particle, of Space’s
Vast society –
Neither if He visit other – Do He dwell or nay
Know I – just (But) instinct esteem Him
Immortality

Variant B   

Conscious am I in my Chamber – Of a shapeless friend –
He doth not attest by Posture – Nor confirm – by Word –
Neither Place – need I present Him – Fitter Courtesy
Hospitable intuition Of His Company –

Presence – is His furthest license –
Neither He to MeNor Myself to Him – by Accent – Forfeit Probity

Weariness of Him, were quainter
Than Monotony
Knew a Particle – of Space’s Vast Society –

Neither if He visit Other –
Do He dwell – or Nay – know I- But Instinct esteem Him (Report Him)

Immortality –

607.1863.I think the longest Hour of all

I think the longest Hour of all
Is when the Cars have come —
And we are waiting for the Coach —
It seems as though the Time

Indignant — that the Joy was come —
Did block the Gilded Hands —
And would not let the Seconds by —
But slowest instant — ends —

The Pendulum begins to count —
Like little Scholars — loud —
The steps grow thicker — in the Hall —
The Heart begins to crowd —

Then I — my timid service done —
Tho’ service ’twas, of Love —
Take up my little Violin —
And further North — remove –

 

ED used the word:

“North” in 14 Poems,
“East” in 30 poems,
“South” in 16 poems,
“West” in 27 poems,

and sometimes she used two or more of these in one poem.

 

During 1850-1853, ED’s father led a small group of investors who built the Amherst and Belchertown Railroad, connecting Amherst with the American rail system. No doubt he was the one who encouraged locating the passenger station on Main Street, 200 yards east of Homestead. Perhaps Time did “block the Gilded Hands” of the clock, but not for very long. With no luggage, visitors could easily walk to Homestead in 10 minutes.

Despite ED’s impatience with Time, when she heard steps “in the Hall” she “timidly” bid hello, felt crowded in her “Heart”, and vanished to her room to play her “little violin”, that is, to compose poetry. ED often referred to composing poems as “singing”, but she used the “violin” metaphor twice, here in F607 and 20 years later in F1627 (1883), ‘The Spirit lasts — but in what mode’.