Poem-A-Day/April 13
(Johnson 444)
It feels a shame to be Alive —
When Men so brave — are dead —
One envies the Distinguished Dust —
Permitted — such a Head —
The Stone — that tells defending Whom
This Spartan put away
What little of Him we — possessed
In Pawn for Liberty —
The price is great — Sublimely paid —
Do we deserve — a Thing —
That lives — like Dollars — must be piled
Before we may obtain?
Are we that wait — sufficient worth —
That such Enormous Pearl
As life — dissolved be — for Us —
In Battle's — horrid Bowl?
It may be — a Renown to live —
I think the Man who die —
Those unsustained — Saviors —
Present Divinity —
**
We'll discuss last week's poems tomorrow on ZOOM--cf. my post from this weekend--but here is the first of several poems for you to consider, written during the Civil War.
Here is Dickinson adapting her very great, and very strange, gifts to a patriotic theme. How does she do so on her own terms? What would it have cost her, spiritually, to write a poem of merely patriotic interest?
(Johnson 444)
It feels a shame to be Alive —
When Men so brave — are dead —
One envies the Distinguished Dust —
Permitted — such a Head —
The Stone — that tells defending Whom
This Spartan put away
What little of Him we — possessed
In Pawn for Liberty —
The price is great — Sublimely paid —
Do we deserve — a Thing —
That lives — like Dollars — must be piled
Before we may obtain?
Are we that wait — sufficient worth —
That such Enormous Pearl
As life — dissolved be — for Us —
In Battle's — horrid Bowl?
It may be — a Renown to live —
I think the Man who die —
Those unsustained — Saviors —
Present Divinity —
**
We'll discuss last week's poems tomorrow on ZOOM--cf. my post from this weekend--but here is the first of several poems for you to consider, written during the Civil War.
Here is Dickinson adapting her very great, and very strange, gifts to a patriotic theme. How does she do so on her own terms? What would it have cost her, spiritually, to write a poem of merely patriotic interest?
In this poem, Dickinson asks whether the living are worthy of the sacrifice made by soldiers during war. Dickinson undercuts romantic beliefs about war and martyrdom, and her words mostly register that war is not worth the horrors, particularly when she asks, “Are we that wait - sufficient worth -/ That such Enormous Pearl / As Life - dissolved be - for us -/ In battle’s - horrid Bowl?” In the last stanza, Dickinson chooses to honor the dead soldiers’ sacrifice. She calls soldiers “unsustained - Saviors”, implying that just as Christians worship Jesus as one who died so that humanity could be saved from their sins, soldiers died so that others could be saved (ie. could be specifically referring to slaves awaiting emancipation). Interestingly though, the soldiers are “unsustained- Saviors”, not simply “Saviors”. “Unsustained” suggests that the soldiers are not resurrected in the way the Jesus is, yet in death they still “Present Divinity”. This interesting word choice is an example of Dickinson’s ability to honor soldiers on her own terms, rather than further contribute to culture’s dangerous tendency to romanticize war service.
ReplyDeleteThe economic implications in this poem are also interesting. Words related to economics feature frequently throughout the poem. The soldiers are a “pawn” for liberty, but the cost of war is “sublimely paid” by lives rather than “dollars” (Only wealthy people could pay money to avoid service). “Unsustained” from “unsustained -saviors” could be read in similar financial terms as well.
[Just here to say: Emily, your comments are really insightful! Thank you for posting.]
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