Lynness: March poetry

Well, I read a couple hundred Emily Dickinson poems. I don't mind taking poetry apart, but I didn't exactly do that this time, since I'm not being graded. As I read I wrote down poems I liked as a whole as well as phrases or images I really liked and thoughts I had...

Overall stylistically, I like that she uses lots of dashes- I use them myself. I like that she makes up words or finds new ways to use them- which I also like to do. And I also like that she breaks up phrases or thoughts wherever she likes (not that I would choose the same places, though).

Some of her poetry seems a little overwrought, others seem like they start with a good idea and then don't exactly know how to finish. I am indifferent to quite a lot of them, but find some I really enjoy. I find many can be distilled down to a single truth, such as "the expectation is the worst part" or that "only fear keeps us from achieving heights." (But then it wouldn't be poetry!) I do think you have to be in the right mood to enjoy her.

Here's one I have on my mind...

A shady friend for torrid days
Is easier to find
Than one of higher temperature
for frigid hour of mind.

The vane a little to the east
scares muslin souls away;
If broadcloth breast are firmer
than those of organdy,

Who is to blame? The weaver?
Ah! The bewildering thread!
The tapestries of paradise
so notelessly are made!


I really like the part of this one that I bolded. The image that made me take notice and read it again is "muslin souls." I think that the juxtaposition of textiles and the degree of substance in a friendship is truly original and works really well. I've been thinking about friendship- just last Sunday I heard a definition of a friend as "someone who meets you outside of your usual place." That rang true to me- I have 'friends' I see only at church or at storytime, etc.. When I taught about David and Jonathan, a quote stuck with me to the effect that a friend is willing to take you as they find you, but leave you better. A true friend wants you to be better, but doesn't get after you about working on it. What kind of friend am I? I know I'm a better friend from the example of one of my best friends in particular. She is my age and has a husband in school (who also works and is in the national guard) and 3 young kids (and one on the way) and homeschools. If anyone doesn't have time to help others, it's her. But she is ALWAYS sewing a blanket for someone, watching an extra kid, making a meal for a sick friend (it's been me a few times),...etc.. She constantly thinks about how to help those in need. Definitely not a 'muslin soul.'

An image I enjoyed... "you cannot fold a flood/and put it in a drawer"

These 4 lines I like... "Two lengths has every day/its absolute extent-/and area superior/by hope or heaven lent."
Some thoughts: I have the same 24 hours as you or anyone else. What am I doing to make them worth more to me than what they might otherwise be? Also: Einstein says time is relative. He could prove it quantitatively. I know it in a qualitative way. What is longer than a week when you're overdue? What is shorter than a week when you're on vacation? An hour creeps in the doctor's waiting room, but is barely enough time to get anything done when that's all the nap the baby will take!!

This one just makes me smile:

I send two Sunsets--
Day and I in competition ran,
I finished two, and several stars,
while He was making one.

His own is ampler--
but, as I was saying to a friend,
mine is the more convenient
to carry in the hand.

(poem sent with brilliant flowers)

These two are more famous and you can find deconstructions of them on the web, but I just like them.

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody too?
Then there's a pair of us-- don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

and

The brain is wider than the sky,
For, put them side by side
The one the other will include
With ease, and you beside.

The brain is deeper than the sea,
For, hold them, blue to blue,
The one the other will absorb,
As sponges, buckets do.

The brain is just the weight of God,
For, lift them, pound for pound,
And they will differ, if they do,
As syllable from sound.