https://youtu.be/18GHSVVz2YA, 04Sep2015

Poems chosen for discussion on September 4 2015 are:

I should have been too glad, I see-

When Bells stop ringing - Church - begins

Of I should have been too glad, I see, Charles Anderson wrote:
"The prerequisite for mastery, in all Dickinson's best poetry, was to abandon the cumulative and logical for the tight symbolic structure that was her forte. Closely connected to this was the narrowing of her concern to one emotion at a time.Two of her better poems on the pain of renunciation deal, respectively, with the acceptance of loss as an inescapable part of the human condition and with the sheer quality of the resulting agony.In both, the specific event of a love-parting is reduced to a generalized idea of deprivation"

I should have been too glad, I see-

Too lifted-for the scant degree

Of Life's penurious Round-

My little Circuit would have shamed

This new Circumference-have blamed-

The homelier time behind.

I should have been too saved-I see-

Too rescued-Fear too dim to me

That I could spell the Prayer

I knew so perfect-yesterday-

That Scalding One-Sabachthani-

Recited fluent-here-

Earth would have been too much-I see-

And Heaven-not enough for me-

I should have had the Joy

Without the Fear-to justify-

The Palm-without the Calvary-

So Savior-Crucify-

Defeat-whets Victory-they say-

The Reefs-in old Gethsemane-

Endear the Coast-beyond!

'Tis Beggars-Banquets-can define-

'Tis Parching-vitalizes Wine-

"Faith" bleats-to understand!

                                - J313/Fr283/M346

[ For an audio recording of this poem go to https://youtu.be/18GHSVVz2YA

The new Circumference that she has missed out on, a missed chance at love, is contrasted with another circle image, her little circuit, the homelier life left to her.  the scalding prayer that she recites is Sabachthani,

"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice , saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? [1]That is to say, Gods, Gods, why hast thou forsaken me?”    - Matthew 27:46

      (The language is Aramaic)

The Palm-without the Calvary- refers to Jesus ‘triumphal entry into Jerusalem during the Jewish Passover celebration, where he was greeted like royalty.

"On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord."  - John 12:12-13

When Bells stop ringing - Church - begins

The Positive - of Bells -

When Cogs - stop - that's Circumference -

The Ultimate - of Wheels.
                            - J633/Fr601/M274

For an audio recording of this poem go to https://youtu.be/3WnhhefhmJ4

David Porter wrote of this poem , "The rift exists between the sign of a thing and the thing itself." Bells are the sign of church, not church itself, which is the community of worshipers. In gears, cogs are located on the circumference of the wheel - the ultimate distance that they are able to reach [ This is a stretch. The term cog includes the wheel as well as the teeth on the edge. ]. Judith Farr sees the second meaning: "Here Circumference means the afterlife, the final goal of life," after all the cogs have stopped. Helen Vendler writes that "the concluding dash broadens into infinity."

At Half past Three, a single Bird
Unto a silent Sky
Propounded but a single term
Of cautious melody.

At Half past Four, Experiment
Had subjugated test
And lo, Her silver Principle
Supplanted all the rest.

At Half past Seven, Element
Nor Implement, be seen —
And Place was where the Presence was
Circumference between.
- J1084/Fr1099/M491

[ To hear this poem read aloud, go to https://youtu.be/J-XxQGRln0M  ]

Circumference, is situated on the threshold between conscious experience and the unknown. The bird's silver principal existed in the realm of conscious experience, and now that bird and her song are somewhere unknown.