ED-LarryB

Soto! Explore thyself!
Therein thyself shalt find
The “Undiscovered Continent”—
No Settler, had the Mind.

We have three variants of this poem in ED’s handwriting.

About 1864, ED sent Variant A to Austin as a letter with a comma after “Mind” and her signature immediately following the comma. I think the comma at the end of this variant is simply the traditional way to close a letter, with a comma followed by a signature, e.g., “Cheers, Emily”.

Apparently, ED sent or intended to send Variant B to someone else because it also has a comma immediately after “Mind” and is signed.

Variant C is obviously for retention because it is on a page with another poem, has a period immediately after “Mind”, and is not signed.

Emily and Austin were close siblings, apparently even in matters sexual. On the evening of March 23, 1853, Susan Gilbert, Austin’s future wife, returning from a visit with a relative in Manchester, NH, spent the night with Austin at the Revere Hotel in Boston. Susan returned to Amherst on March 24 and soon told ED about her night with Austin. On March 27, ED wrote Austin a letter full of banter and hints, including the sentence, “Hope you have enjoyed the Sabbath, and sanctuary privileges – it isn’t all young men that have the preached word –“

Unfortunately, Austin’s marriage was not a bed of roses, and I suspect ‘Soto! Explore thyself!’ (F814) was ED’s answer to Austin’s marital complaints. Apparently, Austin endured his marriage until 1881 when he met Mabel Todd, wife of a new astronomer/professor at Amherst C0llege. David Todd was a womanizer who obliged his wife equal privileges.

In 1883, Austin and Mabel began a sexual relationship that lasted until his death in 1895. Both Austin and Mabel crassly kept count of their consummations in their diaries with a code, XXXX. Much to ED and Vinnie‘s chagrin, they frequently trysted at Homestead, which ED’s grandfather, Samuel Fowler Dickinson, built in 1813 and Austin, the male family heir, owned. Susan, living 100 yards away across a meadow, was aware of everything and not happy about it.

To this World she returned.
But with a tinge of that—
A Compound manner,
As a Sod
Espoused a Violet,
That chiefer to the Skies
Than to himself, allied,
Dwelt hesitating, half of Dust,
And half of Day, the Bride.

“There are two copies, about 1864 and 1865. The earlier one, addressed “Mrs Gertrude,” was sent to Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt about September 1864. Wounded on 20 March 1864 by her maid’s rejected suitor, she had not been expected to survive. In September, when Susan Dickinson was able to write of Vanderbilt’s recovery, ED responded: “I am glad Mrs – Gertrude lived – I believed she would – Those that are worthy of Life are of Miracle, for Life is Miracle, and Death, as harmless as a Bee, except to those who run -” (Franklin 1998 Work Metadata)

“That” is one weird get-well poem.

I wonder whether Mrs. Vanderbilt had any inkling of ED’s intent, any vague idea this poem had anything to do with her being shot by an irate rejected suitor of her maid or her recovery from said shot.

Weird. Only Emily.

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.

As if the Sea should part
And show a further Sea —
And that — a further — and the Three
But a presumption be —

Of Periods of Seas —
Unvisited of Shores —
Themselves the Verge of Seas to be —
Eternity — is Those —

Hmmm. In addition to her poetry, ED had the mindset of a scientist. Before she wrote poetry, she collected plant species, accurately identified them, and mounted them on herbarium sheets as professionally as any botanist of her time. More importantly, she questioned dogma and demanded evidence of untested hypotheses like resurrection and heaven. And most importantly, she was a skeptic but kept her mind open to new evidence.

In 1863, when she composed this poem, there were two wars raging, the American Civil War and a Religion/Science War in England and America. Lyell (1830) and Darwin (1859), among others, had challenged Christianity’s dogma of Creation, including how and when it happened. As one might suspect, ED kept a close eye on both wars, avidly reading Bowles’ highly regarded newspaper, ‘The Springfield Republican’, along with ‘The Hampshire and Franklin Express’, and ‘The Amherst Record’. In addition, the Dickinson family subscribed to ‘Harper’s New Monthly Magazine’, ‘Scribner’s Monthly’, and ‘The Atlantic Monthly’ (Capps 1966).

In the poem’s last line, she tries to merge Science and Religion.

An interpretation of ‘As if the Sea should part’ (F720) by a scientist:

Stanza 1 – “To me [ED] the sea seems permanent, but science opened willing eyes, including mine, to possibilities of sea after sea after sea in Earth’s history, but that would be a presumption [hypothesis]”

Stanza 2 – “Those periods of seas – / Unvisited by shores – / Themselves the Verge of Seas to be – / Eternity – is Those –”.

• Charles Lyell, 1830, Principles of Geology,;
• Charles Darwin, 1859, On the Origin of Species
• Capps, J. L., 1966, ‘Emily Dickinson’s Reading’, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 143 pp.

PS. Hooray! Another ED poem without mention of Charles Wadsworth.

In the July and August 1860 issues of The Atlantic Monthly, Harvard’s Asa Gray, the leading botanist in the United States, published an 11,000-word positive review of Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’. Darwin reprinted Gray’s essay as a pamphlet in England.

In the October 1860 issue of The Atlantic, Gray published a , 12,000-word essay countering negative reviews of Darwin’s book, including Louis Agassiz’s. 1859. Essay on Classification (London: Longman). 381 pp.

The Atlantic Monthly was “required reading” in the Dickinson household.

• Juliana Chow. 2014. “Because I see—New Englandly—”: Seeing Species in the Nineteenth-Century and Emily Dickinson’s Regional Specificity. ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance, 60(3): 413-449.

• Asa Gray. 1860. “Darwin on the Origin of Species” and “Darwin and His Reviewers”. The Atlantic Monthly. Vol. 6 Nos. 33, 34, 36.

If He were living—dare I ask—
And how if He be dead—
And so around the Words I went—
Of meeting them—afraid—

I hinted Changes—Lapse of Time—
The Surfaces of Years—
I touched with Caution—lest they crack—
And show me to my fears—

Reverted to adjoining Lives—
Adroitly turning out
Wherever I suspected Graves—
‘Twas prudenter—I thought—

And He—I pushed—with sudden force—
In face of the Suspense—
“Was buried”—”Buried”! “He!”
My Life just holds the Trench—

Scenario – ED has written letters and composed poems and mailed them to Charles Wadsworth in San Francisco but has heard nothing in reply. Her anger and her love collide – and love wins.

Stanza 1 – I imagine the worst: CW has died in San Francisco. Words fail me; I’m afraid.

Stanza 2 – I wrote him anyway, trying to be strong. “I hinted Changes” that have happened for me: “Lapse of Time”, old wounds healed; years have come and gone. I touched these topics cautiously, “lest they crack” [I learn the truth] – “And show me to my [worst] fears”.

Stanza 3 – In case he or a member of his family has died, “’Twas prudenter – I thought –” / “Reverted to adjoining [nearby] Lives – / Adroitly turning out”

Stanza 4 – “And He I pushed with sudden force / In face of the Suspense [my fear] / [that He] “Was buried” – “Buried”! “He!” / [If He is dead,] My Life holds the [his burial] Trench.”

The phrase, “adjoining Lives”, in Stanza 3 probably refers to “James D. Clark, perhaps Wadsworth’s closest friend” who lived in Northampton, MA, 12 miles southwest of Amherst (Thompson 2018). The Belchertown Railroad connected the two towns in 1853.

By pure coincidence, ED’s father had had business dealings with James D. Clark and had introduced ED to him at Homestead. Whatever the purpose of Clark’s call, it must have taken place between 1858 and 1863” (Habegger 2002).

“One of the poet’s memorable encounters occurred when James [D. Clark] . . . showed up at the Dickinson mansion: “I could scarcely have believed, the Morning you called with Mr Brownell,” she wrote some two decades later [L1048, To James D. Clark, Mar 15, 1883], “that I should eventually speak with you, and you only, with the exception of my Sister, of my dearest earthly friend [Wadsworth].” (Habegger 2002)

• (Thompson, Casey.2018, https://waynepres.org/article/the-story-of-emily-dickinson-and-rev-charles-wadsworth).

Franklin’s (1998) punctuation and ED’s alternate words in parentheses:

The Spirit is the Conscious Ear —
We actually Hear
When We inspect—that’s audible—
That is admitted—Here—

For other Services (purposes)—as Sound —
There hangs a smaller (minor) Ear
Outside the Castle (Centre, City) —that Contain (Present)—
The other —only—Hear—

Here’s my interpretation, using ED’s alternate words when they help and my clarifications in brackets. Lines 1-3 are enjambed into a single sentence, and Line 4 is a single sentence. Lines 5-7 are also enjambed into a single sentence, and Line 8 is a closing sentence.

The Spirit is the Conscious Ear
We actually Hear
When We inspect [what’s] audible— [in our soul].
That [song] is admitted—Here—[in the Conscious Ear].

For other Purposes—such as Sound [physical sounds such as bird songs]—
There hangs a minor Ear, [the physical ear]
Outside the Castle [of our soul, which] Contain[s] the [Conscious Ear].
The other [the minor ear] only Hear[s] [physical sounds].

In a footnote to this poem, Christine Miller (2016, ‘Emily Dickinson’s Poems’) refers readers to ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ (John Keats, 1819, Stanza 2):

“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone”

Given ED’s interest in “the spirit ditties of no tone”, that is, mystical experiences, her “Conscious Ear” is the one that hears God speaking, the “Ear” Saul used to listen to God on the road to Damascus (KJV, Acts 9:3-5):

3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.

4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. . .”

It would be hard for any poet, including ED, to improve on Keats. To me, ED’s “Ear” / “Hear” / “Here” // “Ear” / “Hear” sound clunky compared to Keats’ “Heard”, “unheard” // “ear”, “endear’d”.