ED-LarryB

606.1863.Except the smaller size

Except the smaller size
No lives are round —
These — hurry to a sphere
And show and end —
The larger — slower grow
And later hang —
The Summers of Hesperides
Are long.

Our neighbor has an incredibly productive yellow-apple tree that holds its apples until first frost. She lets us pick and we’ve noticed that apples on inner branches are smaller than those farther out. These small apples stay roundish and lack rich sweetness of larger, outer-hanging, late-season apples. ED would probably know this from her family’s orchard.

Perhaps Lines 7-8, “The Summers of Hesperides / are long”, acknowledge that exceptional poems bake longer in ED’s white-hot subconscious.

 

There are three variants of F606, dating from about 1863 and 1866.

Variant A (summer 1863, Fascicle 26, Alternate words in parentheses):

Except the smaller size –
No Lives – are Round –
These hurry to a Sphere –
And show and end –

The Larger – slower grow –
And later – hang –
The Summers of (in) Hesperides
Are long-

Hugest (The Huge) of Core
Present the awkward Rind –
Yield Groups of Ones –
No Cluster – ye (you) shall find –

But far after Frost –
And Indian Summer Noon – (Sun –)
Ships – offer These –
As West – Indian –

Variant B (The first two stanzas of Variant A, signed “Emily,” were sent to Susan Dickinson about the second half of 1863.

Variant C (A later fair copy, substantively identical to Variant B, though without stanza division, was incorporated in 1866 into a letter to T. W. Higginson postmarked 17 March 1886 (L484):

“If I still entreat you to teach me, Are you much displeased? I will be patient – constant, never reject your knife and should my slowness goad you, you knew before myself that”:

Except the smaller size
No lives are round –
These – hurry to a sphere
And show and end –
The larger – slower grow
And later hang –
The Summers of Hesperides
Are long.

ED incorporated this one-stanza octave, Variant C, into Letter 484 to T. W. Higginson, postmarked 17 March 1886.

 

An interpretation of F606:

Except for ordinary poets, no poets’ lives are smooth (L1-2).
Ordinary poets quickly become predictable and showy and temporary (L3-4).
Great poets grow slower and deeper, and their poems become immortal (L5-6).
Their fame is eternal (L7-8).

511.1863.He found my Being — set it up —
ED’s alternatives (in parentheses); LarryB’s comments [in brackets]

He found my Being — set it up —
Adjusted it to place —
Then carved (He wrote) his name — upon it —
And (Then) bade it to the East

Be faithful — in his absence —
And he would come again —
With Equipage of Amber —
That time — to take it Home —

In Stanza 1 ED offered two alternatives that shed light on her intended meaning. Inserting these:

“He found my Being – set it up –
Adjusted it to place –
He wrote his name – upon it –
Then bade it to the East – ”

Lines 1-3 probably occurred in March 1855 when ED, age 24, first heard Wadsworth preach in Philadelphia. His legendary voice and powerful message “found” her “Being”, filled it with meaning, and “adjusted it” to poetry as her “place” in life.

Lines 4-8 probably occurred in 1860 (or perhaps 1861), when Wadsworth visited her in Amherst and “wrote his name – upon it” [her “Being”]. He knew he was relocating to Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco and “bade” her to remain in “the East” [Amherst].

In Stanza 2, he asked her to:

“Be faithful – in his absence –
And he would come again –
With Equipage of Amber —
That time – to take it [her “Being”] Home –”

As Susan Kornfeld explained in her F511 TPB explication, in poem F325 “the narrator and her lover exchange[d] a pledge that after they die they will rise ‘To that new Marriage’ possible to them in heaven”:

“And so when all the time had failed—
Without external sound—
Each—bound the other’s Crucifix—
We gave no other Bond—

Sufficient troth—that we shall rise—
Deposed—at length—the Grave—
To that new Marriage—
Justified—through Calvaries of Love!”

ED believed that promise was their crucifix-clad troth to marry in Heaven, and, probably as a sign of her “faithful[ness]”, she wore only white until her white coffin descended into its grave.

It can’t be “Summer”!
That – got through!
It’s early – yet – for “Spring”!
There’s that long town of White – to cross –
Before the Blackbirds sing!
It can’t be “Dying”!
It’s too Rouge –
The Dead shall go in White –
So Sunset shuts my question down
With Cuffs of Chrysolite!

In biblical times and ancient history, “chrysolite” referred to various yellowish and greenish stones, a versatile term for expensive and prized gems. Olivine (Chrysolite) is considered a hard mineral, ranking between 6.5 and 7 on the Mohs hardness scale, which means it is harder than glass and can scratch it.

Nice to see a fun poem amid the pain and introspection. ED manages to sneak in “Summer”, “Spring”, and “Dying” with caps and quotes, usually signals of metaphors, but they aren’t obvious here.

“So Sunset shuts my question down” begs a question mark somewhere, but it’s only implied.

ED poses a riddle: What season is it?

One by one she tells us the season is not summer, spring, fall, or winter, in that order. Lines 1-3 imply the weather is warm and the sunset gorgeous. So, what’s the answer to ED’s riddle?

She got us! It’s Indian Summer, of course.

These are the days when Birds come back—
A very few—a Bird or two—
To take a backward look.

These are the days when skies resume
The old—old sophistries of June—
A blue and gold mistake.

Oh fraud that cannot cheat the Bee—
Almost thy plausibility
Induces my belief.

Till ranks of seeds their witness bear—
And softly thro’ the altered air
Hurries a timid leaf.

Oh sacrament of summer days,
Oh Last Communion in the Haze—
Permit a child to join.

Thy sacred emblems to partake—
Thy consecrated bread to take
And thine immortal wine!

Apparently, ED never took communion at church, as a child because of Christian custom or as an adult because of agnostic honesty. But both children and agnostics can joyously partake in the Sacrament of Indian-Summer, its bread and wine the golden hues and crisp cool air.

004.1854.I have a Bird in spring

I prefer ED’s alternate phrase in Line 7.

I have a Bird in spring
Which for myself doth sing —
The spring decoys.
And as the summer nears —
And as the Rose appears,
Robin is gone. 

(Then will) I not repine
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown —
Learneth beyond the sea
Melody new for me
And will return. 

Fast in a safer hand
Held in a truer Land
Are mine —
And though they now depart
Tell I my doubting heart
They’re thine. 

In a serener Bright,
In a more golden light
I see
Each little doubt and fear
Each little discord here
Removed. 

Then will I not repine,
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown
Shall in a distant tree
Bright melody for me
Return.

 

………………………………………

 

My interpretation of F4:

 

 

 

 

 

003.1853.On this wondrous sea – sailing silently –

Emily Dickinson (ED) gave Sue a copy of this poem in March 1853.

On this wondrous sea – Sailing silently –
Ho! Pilot! Ho!
Knowest thou the shore
Where no breakers roar –
Where the storm is o’er?

In the silent West
Many – the sails – at rest –
The Anchors fast.
Thither I pilot thee –
Land! Ho! Eternity!
Ashore at last!

…………………………………

My interpretation by stanzas:

Sweet Sue, we have a wonderful relationship. It’s as if we are together in a small sailboat, silently sailing. Do you know a shore where no breakers roar and the storm is o’er?

Dearest Emily, in the silent west many sails rest, their anchors fast, and that’s where I’m taking you. Look, I see land! It’s called Eternity! We’re home at last!

001.1850.Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine

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 but 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, be 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 flower, the flower 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 beseemeth 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!

………………………………………………………………………………….

Larry BJuly 24, 2022

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. However, how many Hallmark Valentine cards have you ever seen with a line like this: “The worm doth woo the mortal, death claims a living bride”? ED had more than romantic love on her mind.

Larry B January 3, 2025

This early Valentine poem tells us that Susan Gilbert, an orphaned newcomer to Amherst, had joined ED’s inner clique of friends by 4 March 1850. Their acquaintance began fall 1847 when Susan enrolled for a semester at Amherst Academy. Their romantic love probably began summer 1850 (L181, January 1855: “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.”)