Five Days/Five Poems/Week 2
April 6, 2020
(Johnson 1072)
Title divine — is mine!
The Wife — without the Sign!
Acute Degree — conferred on me —
Empress of Calvary!
Royal — all but the Crown!
Betrothed — without the swoon
God sends us Women —
When you — hold — Garnet to Garnet —
Gold — to Gold —
Born — Bridalled — Shrouded —
In a Day —
Tri Victory
"My Husband" — women say —
Stroking the Melody —
Is this — the way?
*
This is one of several poems we've read which undermine the conventional, socially acknowledged markers of achievement, expertise, and sanction. Remember (look back at it) "There's a certain slant of light" and its notion of a spiritual excellence conferred not by schools or governments but by "internal difference"? This poem runs a similar kind of argument.
We'll discuss this poem in ZOOM class on Tuesday. Note, in the phrase "Empress of Calvary" here, the echo of "Queen of Calvary" in "I dreaded that first Robin".
Here is a scholarly article about Dickinson and Susan's relationship, which we may want to discuss on Tuesday as well--in addition to Rich's great work, "Vesuvius at Home":
https://www.jstor.org/stable/464224?seq=3#metadata_info_tab_contents
April 6, 2020
(Johnson 1072)
Title divine — is mine!
The Wife — without the Sign!
Acute Degree — conferred on me —
Empress of Calvary!
Royal — all but the Crown!
Betrothed — without the swoon
God sends us Women —
When you — hold — Garnet to Garnet —
Gold — to Gold —
Born — Bridalled — Shrouded —
In a Day —
Tri Victory
"My Husband" — women say —
Stroking the Melody —
Is this — the way?
*
This is one of several poems we've read which undermine the conventional, socially acknowledged markers of achievement, expertise, and sanction. Remember (look back at it) "There's a certain slant of light" and its notion of a spiritual excellence conferred not by schools or governments but by "internal difference"? This poem runs a similar kind of argument.
We'll discuss this poem in ZOOM class on Tuesday. Note, in the phrase "Empress of Calvary" here, the echo of "Queen of Calvary" in "I dreaded that first Robin".
Here is a scholarly article about Dickinson and Susan's relationship, which we may want to discuss on Tuesday as well--in addition to Rich's great work, "Vesuvius at Home":
https://www.jstor.org/stable/464224?seq=3#metadata_info_tab_contents
Looking at the Dickinson Achieve, I noticed that there was two copies of the poem; one was sent to Samuel Bowels, and the other to Sue Dickinson. Neither one, as I understand it, was preserved in a fascicle. I was quite surprised by the uniformity across the two versions – the only variant seemed to be the word "gives" instead of "sends" in the line "God sends us Women –". Interestingly, the biggest difference between the two poems appears not to be the word-choice, but the handwriting. Bowels' poem was sent a bit earlier, and Dickinson crafts her letters more compactly and with more control. In Sue's version, the letters are more bloated, and words expand to the boundaries of the page forcing more enjambment. I wonder if these differences simply reflect an evolution of penmanship, or if they underscore a deeper division of emotion felt towards the two recipients... I know Bowels remains one of the favored identities of the "Master", while some Dickinson poems imply Sue as a secret lover.
ReplyDeleteHow fascinating that she sent it to both Bowles and Sue! It sounds like the line breaks are different in the two versions? I'll ask you to say something briefly today if OK.
DeleteIn this poem, the speaker gives herself the title of Bride of Christ (a wife on the level of the divine and eternal) even though she is not an earthly wife. The speaker lacks the signs of earthly marriage that would elevate her societal rank: she doesn’t “swoon” or say “my husband” as other women do. “Acute degree conferred on me: Empress of Cavalry” (cavalry is the site of Christ’s crucifixion) seems to convey the intense pain of not having these external, socially acknowledged markers. But at the same time the speaker embraces her own unmarried state. The phrase “Born— Bridalled — Shrouded— In a day” is interesting. The word “Shrouded” carries a feeling of deadness and constriction, underlining something undesirable about earthly marriage. Then with the final line “Is this — the way?”, the speaker alludes to Jesus’ claim to “the way, the truth, and the life”. In this passage from the gospel, Jesus' message to his followers is that knowing Him is the ultimate meaning of earthly life. It follows that by linking married women’s possessive claim of “my husband” to the gospel, the speaker seems to bring into question/undermine the latter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for these terrific thoughts, Emily.
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