Emily Dickinson Reading Circle April, 2019

Emily Dickinson Reading Circle

April, 2019

Fascicle 15

Facilitated by Margaret Freeman

Margaret. If you remember, at the beginning of the year, I had suggested taking a somewhat different way of looking at the poems by thinking about how we are being drawn into and involved in the poem in some way. So, I said, think about the poem being a stranger on the street that you met, and when you do you get vibes, right? You may feel light and cheeful, if you like the person; you might feel afraid, or indifferent. So, I wanted you to approach the poems that way and I thought that our discussion was great [previous meeting], because you all talked about what the poem meant to you, as if it were the first time that you really encountered this poem. So then, I said let's do that with the fascicles, and find what poems really hit us. Then next, let's do the opposite - find the ones that leave us indifferent,or that we skip over. Was it puzzling - difficult - hard?
            As I was going through it, I don't think we did The Body grows without, did we? It's on the last sheet, inside.
The Body grows without  -
The more convenient way  -
That if the Spirit  - like to hide
Its Temple stands, alway,

Ajar  - secure  - inviting  -
It never did betray
The Soul that asked its shelter
In solemn honesty
                     - J578/Fr438/M176

[ To hear this poem read aloud, go to https://youtu.be/TvD4eTFXock ]

So, if you're an abolute total materialist, there's no such thing as soul. If it isn't substantive, it doesn't exist. This poem introduces the whole notion of soul, and I don't use that word. I use the word anima - the Latin.

Alice. She uses Spirit in the same poem. She usually tries to make a distinction between the two.

Margaret. It seems to me charactaristic of the attitude that the body is the temple of the soul. It's a very classic, Christian belief, coming out of Descarte, back to Plato - the separation of the body from the mind - or the soul - the spirit7, or however you want to think about it. But it's strange, there are very few poems, I think, where Dickinson just accepts something without questioning it - or giving it a twist - challenging it in some way, right?

Lois. I think that anybody who has the ability to observe themself is aware that there's something going on inside that really has nothing to do with the body. I mean, this activity that's going on inside of us all the time. I think this is a very sweet poem, in a way, because it acknowleges the possibility that someone can be so disillusioned, or so hurt, that they cannot really engage with the outer world the way they're expected to, or the way they see other people doing it, and Dickinson is sort of giving the body thi role of shelter for this entity that's not ready, in whatever stage in development, before they're ready to engage completely with the outer world. I think of a child, really, when I read this poem - like the child that's been misunderstood. My God are we misunderstood as children. THE WHOLE WORLD DOESN'T UNDERSTAND MA! [laughter] Dickinson is acknowledging that that's going on, but the body is a shelter, it's not meant to be anything else at cerain times. In the next poem, the very first word is "I." And, it begs the question, "Which 'I?'" The body that everyone sees, or this inner life that's going on? There's an inner life that isn't visible unless we want it to be visible - unless we choose to engage.

Esther. I'm caught by the second line in the second stanza, It never did betray. I thought, as I read that, she wouldn;t have had to say that, if she hadn't questioned if it was a possibility. It might have betrayed, so she had to examine that, and to me that's a little question.

Margaret. I thought you were going to say the second line in the first stanza, because for me that's the sore thumb in the poem - The more convenient way - convenient?

Esther. Convenient to look at, convenient to see?" - external.

Margaret. She says The Body grows without, and the variant for without is outside. So, the body grows outside, which is a more convenient way because, as you say, you can see it, but, it's growing within as well. It's suggesting that in fact there's another way to grow.

Lois. So, the suggestion is - our inner life we have to work at to get it to grow. We go through psychic pain in order to grow, and we can hide from psychic pain, but if you feed it, the body will grow. ... I don't agree with that statement that the body never did betray, but I feel that she's being probably more specific in some way that I don't see. There's a recognition of estrangement.

Alice. Does the body betray when there's an illness? The soul would no longer be free, because it's ties to the body and the body is impaired.

Lynn. I get the idea that one thing is inside of another thing, whatever it is.

Margaret. That's a metaphor. It's the container metaphor. If you take metaphors literally, it's dangerous. [laughter] But the metaphor is here, in the poem  because of the shelter - the whole thing is a metaphor of one as a container. But then, is she questioning that container? She's using it, but I don't think she's accepting it.

Alice. That's the kind of argument that's going on in my mind all the time. "Who am I arguing with?" Trying to argue two sides of any question, but, in the moment you're split like that, you do have a duality set up, that you can see both sides of it.

[Interlude]

Margaret. Let's look at How happy is the little Stone. Oh my God, there are five - possibly six - copies of this poem. She must have really liked this one.

Greg reads.
How happy is the little Stone

That rambles in the Road alone,

And doesn't care about Careers

And Exigencies never fears -

Whose Coat of elemental Brown

A passing Universe put on,

And independent as the Sun

Associates or glows alone,

Fulfilling absolute Decree

In casual simplicity -

                        -J1510/Fr1570/M635

It's fun

Barre. Is it odd for her to do couplets like that? Is that unusual?

Margaret. I hadn't thought of that. Yes, that is different.

Greg. Yeah, and the meter is, too.

Alice. Very traditional.

Lois. It reminds me of "I wish I were a Hay." It can be read as either someone wanting to zone out or as just a little nature poem.

Barre. Is that predestination - Fulfilling absolute Decree?

Greg. Decree is an important word in Calvinism.

Margaret. With three of her copies - she sent one to Sue, one to Thomas Niles, the publisher, and one to Higginson - each one of them carried a comment. I thought it would be interesting to see what those comments are. With the one that went to Sue, it's "Heaven the Surly Balm of a Technicality." But then, she transposed to read "Heaven the Balm of a Surly Technicality," which to me makes more sense. I think that's what she was getting at. The one that she sent to Thomas Niles - "The kind but incredible opinion of 'H.H.' and yourself - I would like to deserve. Would you accept a Pebble that I think I gave to her, though I am not sure." Helen Hunt was always trying to get Dickinson to publish, and she had contacted Nile about the whole thing. In the copy that she sent to Higginson, she wrote, "I am glad you are better, and to cherish the Cherubim be not too intrepid, desire my love to Baby's Mama - I am glad you are with the 'Elms' - that is a gracious place."

[Interlude]

Lois reads.
I had been hungry, all the Years -
My Noon had Come - to dine -
I trembling drew the Table near -
And touched the Curious Wine -

'Twas this on Tables I had seen -
When turning, hungry, Home
I looked in Windows, for the Wealth
I could not hope - for Mine-

I did not know the ample Bread -
'Twas so unlike the Crumb
The Birds and I, had often shared
In Nature's - Dining Room -

The Plenty hurt me - 'twas so new -
Myself felt ill - and odd -
As Berry - of a Mountain Bush -
Transplanted - to a Road -

Nor was I hungry - so I found
That Hunger - was a way
Of Persons outside Windows -
The Entering - takes away -
                                    - J579/Fr439/M176

Greg. It gives me a feeling of longing.

Lynn. I was thinking it had a kind of religious overtone, like Communion. The Curious Wine and the Bread.

Margaret. For me, the images of the hunger, the bread, and the crumb, they're all standing for something else, and you wonder what that something else is. And, I think the trigger there, is My Noon had Come - to dine

Lynn. What does that mean?

Margaret. Well, for her it's the zenith. Noon, Summer it's the apex.

Greg. One verse in I envy Seas, whereon He rides is:

I envy Light -that wakes Him -

And Bells -that boldly ring

To tell Him it is Noon, abroad -

Myself -be Noon to Him -

Noon is that high point; it's just the best position that you want to be in. I think that's what this is in this poem. We're at the meridian. We're at the peak of our experience.

Margaret. And that leads us right into another really strange poem in this fascicle.

Sophie reads.

If I may have it, when it's dead,
I'll be contented - so -
If just as soon as Breath is out
It shall belong to me -

Until they lock it in the Grave,
'Tis Bliss I cannot weigh -
For tho' they lock Thee in the Grave,
Myself - can own the key -

Think of it Lover! I and Thee
Permitted - face to face to be -
After a Life - a Death - We'll say -
For Death was That -
And this - is Thee -

I'll tell Thee All - how Bald it grew -
How Midnight felt, at first - to me -
How all the Clocks stopped in the World -
And Sunshine pinched me - 'Twas so cold -

Then how the Grief got sleepy - some -
As if my Soul were deaf and dumb -
Just making signs - across - to Thee -
That this way - thou could'st notice me -

I'll tell you how I tried to keep
A smile, to show you, when this Deep
All Waded - We look back for Play,
At those Old Times - in Calvary,

Forgive me, if the Grave come slow -
For Coveting to look at Thee -
Forgive me, if to stroke thy frost
Outvisions Paradise!
                        J577/Fr431/M172

That's creepy!

Lois. Someone has called Emily Dickinson "Amherst's Madame DeSade." [laughter]

Margaret. To me, this poem is her failing to reach noon with this person - that they lived on Calvary during their lifetime. So, if she couldn't have it in life, she'll have it in death

Lynn. And, there was a person like this, or this is just her imagination?

Margaret. Who knows? Some have said it's just the imagination, some have said no, it's a real person, and then you start getting into who it was, whether male or female - you know?

Lois. I like to think of it as fame - recognition of herself as a poet. I like to think of it as what we're doing here. We are it - the public recognition for her work.

Margaret. Then, wouldn't it be "If I may have it when I'm dead?"

Lois. I would write it that way, but [laughter]

Lynn. Why it?

Margaret. She often does that - uses it for people -

Lois. - when she doesn't want to be explicit.

Greg. A good example of that is, in a letter she wrote, "Until a man or woman has loved, it cannot know itself."

Margaret. There's a companion poem.

Mary Clare reads.
It is dead - find it -
Out of sound - Out of sight -
“Happy”? Which is wiser -
You, or the Wind?
“Conscious”? Won’t you ask that -
Of the low Ground?

“Homesick”? Many met it -
Even through them - This
Cannot testify -
Themself - as dumb -
                        - J417/F434/M174

Lynn. Huh? [laughter]

Margaret. What's interesting to me is, the first poem is so personal, and this one is so different - the way she's talking and thinking. Her tone is so incredibly different. Then, she goes straight into "Not in this World to see his face/ Sounds long," right?

Mary Clare. I chose this poem as one that made no sense at all to me.

Greg. OK. It's dead - try to find it. You can't, it's out of sight. Well, is it happy? How do I know know; who's wiser, you or the wind? Who knows if it's happy, it's dead. Is it conscious? Ask the low ground. Is it homesick? In other words, does it want to come back? Many met it - those are the others who have died -

Mary Clare. Oh. Greg, thank you.

Greg. Yeah, they can't testify - they're just as dumb - silent as the tomb, so to speak.

Lois. She sounds fed up.  [laughter]

[ A conversation follows, much of it inaudible and with crosstalk, that this might be a reaction to the homilies that one hears about the dead, such as "She's in a better place," etc. ]

Lois. I'd like to read "I never felt at Home - Below."

Greg. That's the whiney poem.

Lois. That's why I like it. [laughter]
I never felt at Home-Below -

And in the Handsome Skies

I shall not feel at Home - I know -

I don't like Paradise -

Because it's Sunday-all the time-

And Recess - never comes-

And Eden'll be so lonesome

Bright Wednesday Afternoons-

If God could make a visit-

Or ever took a Nap -

So not to see us - but they say

Himself-a Telescope

Perennial beholds us -

Myself would run away

From Him - and Holy Ghost - and All -

But there's the "Judgement Day"!

                                    - J413/Fr437/M175

Margaret. You know about Wednesday afternoon? That was half-day in Amberst. We used to have them in England. You'd be there [on a Wednesday] and suddenly everything was closed. Shops and everything would close on a half-day.

Lynn. It sounds depressing to me.

Lois. Yeah - she starts right out with I never felt at Home

Lynn. It sounds like she didn't feel at home anywhere. [ general agreement ]

Greg. She's homeless.

Margaret. Well, she's caught, you know, between the Puritan belief - which she could not accept- and - she couldn't be at home in what they say heaven was.

Greg. It's been said that in this she's using her "little girl voice" in attacking tenets of orthodox Christianity - this paradise that's supposed to be so desireable - but she's doing it in this "little girl" way. That's how she gets away with it.

[ Interlude ]

Alice reads.

Good Morning—Midnight—
I'm coming Home—
Day—got tired of Me—
How could I—of Him?

Sunshine was a sweet place—
I liked to stay—
But Morn—didn't want me—now—
So—Goodnight—Day!

I can look—can't I—
When the East is Red?
The Hills—have a way—then—
That puts the Heart—abroad—

You—are not so fair—Midnight—
I chose—Day—
                        -J424/Fr382/M203

But—please take a little Girl— [a little girl that he turned away]
He turned away!

Lois. There are other poems where she tends to have, even more than this, a regard for the night.

Margaret. Yeah - 322 in Franklin - 259 in Johnson -

Lynn reads.
Good Night! Which put the Candle out?
A jealous Zephyr — not a doubt —
Ah, friend, you little knew
How long at that celestial wick
The Angels — labored diligent —
Extinguished — now — for you!

It might — have been the Light House spark —
Some Sailor — rowing in the Dark —
Had importuned to see!
It might — have been the waning lamp
That lit the Drummer from the Camp
To purer Reveille!
                                    -J259/Fr322/M372

Lois. Apparently, she has it in fascicle 13, and then again in fascicle 36, which, at a quick look, appears to be the very same poem.

Margaret. That's right. The divisions are different, but it's the same poem.

Barre. Did they have the expression Good Night then? Like, when you're annoyed at something you say "Good Night!"

Margaret. Oh, you mean as an exclamationm not as a greeting.

Barre. Yeah. Was it the Zephyr? And now it's gone; you're in big trouble.

Lynn. That was my father's favorite swear - "Good Night Nurse!" [laughter]

Leslie (reading from web) "An exclamation of surprise that didn't come into general usage until the 1890's"

Barre. Well how do you explain its use in the poem?

Several. It's literal.

Margaret. The other Good Night poem is Franklin 97 and Johnson 114. This one is interesting, because there are two copies, and the first one does not have quotations around Good Night. But the one in the fascicle does.
Good night, because we must,
How intricate the dust!
I would go, to know!
Oh incognito!
Saucy, Saucy Seraph
To elude me so!
Father! they won't tell me,
Won't you tell them to?
                                    -J114/Fr97/M71

Barbara. It really ties in with the other Good Night.

Margaret. It's again the idea of night, winter, midnight, death, and so on, right?