Emily Dickinson

I DID not reach thee,
But my feet slip nearer every day;
Three Rivers and a Hill to cross,
One Desert and a Sea?-
I shall not count the journey one
When I am telling thee.

Two deserts?-but the year is cold
So that will help the sand?-
One desert crossed, the second one
Will feel as cool as land.
Sahara is too little price
To pay for thy Right hand!

The sea comes last. Step merry, feet!
So short have we to go
To play together we are prone,
But we must labor now,
The last shall be the lightest load
That we have had to draw.

The Sun goes crooked?-that is night?-
Before he makes the bend
We must have passed the middle sea,
Almost we wish the end
Were further off?-too great it seems
So near the Whole to stand.

We step like plush, we stand like snow?-
The waters murmur now,
Three rivers and the hill are passed,
Two deserts and the sea!
Now Death usurps my premium
And gets the look at Thee.

GIVE little anguish
Lives will fret.
Give avalanches?-
And they'll slant,
Straighten, look cautious for their breath,
But make no syllable?-
Like Death,
?-Who only shows his
?-Marble disc?-
Sublimer sort than speech.

What an engrossing read. Being British, I don't know much about Emily Dickinson, well not until about half an hour ago!

I noticed in an early message that someone mentioned she wore white. Is that right? Always?

Thanks again for bringing me into your culture.

Hey, Tarah; I'm really glad that you have enjoyed the Emily Dickinson post. I grew up in Britain but I found her when I was fairly young and loved her since. Some people complain about her adherence to rhyme in nearly all of her poems, but I think that it heightens her sense of fun, and is something integral about her.

It's rumoured that she always wore white; yet, most of the few photographs of her show her wearing black; only two show her wearing white. It is weird, how these rumours get about.

Anyway, thank you for reading. I hope that you stick around. It's been quiet since Jjorge and J.D. have been gone; but they'll be back, and until then I'll post their share, too.

The most famous picture of her:



and one of her wearing white:

I have no life but this,
To lead it here;
Nor any death, but lest
Dispelled from there;

Nor tie to earths to come,
Nor action new,
Except through this extent,
The realm of you.

Thanks drom. I've since looked her up on Google and discovered loads about her life. And yes, I also thought it strange that the only photo I saw of her she wasn't in white. In one article it said the photo was taken when she was 17, so perhaps she started wearing white a little later in life. I don't know whether her family had servants but this was certainly in the pre-electric washing machine days so I wouldn't have fancied doing her laundry!

I can almost hear people cringing, but I like rhyming poetry. I shall re-read this thread periodically .... and enjoy it all over again.

I'm glad that you enjoyed her so much to do research. Did you have any favourite poems amongst the ones that you read?

I don't like most obviously rhyming poetry, but ED is different... unique. And to think that only about seven of her poems saw the light of day during her life.

OF so divine a loss
We enter but the gain,
Indemnity for loneliness
That such a bliss has been.

Ooof...so many pages...did I already mention here that one of the most fascinating literature courses I studied was a comparison of the complete works of Dickinson with the complete works of Whitman? I'll never forget how that professor fueled a passion in me for both poets, divided by style, united in spirit.

That sounds like an exceptionally interesting course, Cav. How long did it last? What were the major continuities? I have allied Whitman to Dickinson in the past, but I never considered it in depth.

drom, I will have to leave that for another day. It was a full year course. Isolation from society would be the first connection though.

I look forward to it, although I appreciate that it takes a long time to condense a course that lasted a year. Was it 'Leaves of Grass' that you studied for the Whitman component? I think that I liked all the poems from 'Leaves,' apart from 'O captain,' and one other that I can't remember.

Once I Pass'd Through a Populous City

ONCE I pass'd through a populous city, imprinting my brain, for future use, with its shows, architecture, customs, and traditions;
Yet now, of all that city, I remember only a woman I casually met there, who detain'd me for love of me;
Day by day and night by night we were together,?-All else has long been forgotten by me;
I remember, I say, only that woman who passionately clung to me;
Again we wander?-we love?-we separate again;
Again she holds me by the hand?-I must not go!
I see her close beside me, with silent lips, sad and tremulous.

It was the most full edition of Leaves of Grass, Whitman's only book. Edited over the years, but remaining true to it's original vision.

Over here, things aren't that simple; one can get 'Song of myself,' which seems to be mostly later work; 'Leaves of grass,' in varying editions, and 'The Complete Poems', which incorporates it all. Are there particular Whitmans that have stayed with you?

Off the top of my head, I Sing the Body Electric, Out Of The Cradle Endlessly Rocking, Drum Taps, and O You Whom I Often and Silently Come, which I gave to my brother to read at my grandfather's funeral.

They are truly beautiful poems, Cav. I read 'O you whom...' out at two funerals. Perhaps we should make a Whitman thread.

MY Wheel is in the dark,?-
I cannot see a spoke,
Yet know its dripping feet
Go round and round.

My foot is on the tide?-
An unfrequented road,
Yet have all roads
A "clearing" at the end.

Some have resigned the Loom,
Some in the busy tomb
Find quaint employ,
Some with new, stately feet
Pass royal through the gate,
Flinging the problem back at you and I.

THE DUTIES of the Wind are few?-
To cast the Ships at sea,
Establish March,
The Floods escort,
And usher Liberty.