Instead of selling the chalk of illusion for the cheese of reality, the expert should better point at the metaphor. Saying : \u201cseek, and you will find what the poet has, especially for you, hidden within that metaphor.\u201d In case you haven\u2019t noticed : there is a marvellous discovery waiting for you in the final line of Dickinson\u2019s poem.<\/p>\n
Seek, and you will find, and the metaphor is the poem\u2019s key. Which defines poetry as an encrypted means of communication. The last thing a poetry lover, according to this definition, is waiting for, is the deciphering already been done. Meaning that Judith Farr, and literary criticism as a whole, is rather to be praised for avoiding the metaphor than rebuked. From which one may gather that there evidently is some wisdom in the expert\u2019s habit of keeping a poem\u2019s message obscured. And the same for avoiding the problem that, once known, the metaphor will be recognized whenever it occurs. A complication that in the long run is to make literary criticism completely redundant.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, this drawback is not going to leave this branch of science unoccupied, because, for a proper understanding, a text has to be read within context. Lays cannot be expected to figure this context out for each single piece of literature. And for that reason the encounters which Dickinson placed at the centre of her poem can make perfect sense to her countrymen only. If unbraiding whips are still common finds in the New England countryside, that is.<\/p>\n
The identification of that linchpin metaphor is not always the easiest of jobs. In the next poem, for instance, it is too near for detection. Even if the poem offers its metaphor in full view. And thus Dickinson effectively denies access to all readers of her poem but the really attentive. Which makes its deciphering even more rewarding.<\/p>\n
The previous poem came with a visitor\u2019s guide. One that has been written by decyphering the message with the advantage of websearching. This learned me in the process that \u2018A narrow fellow\u2019 is in Dickinson\u2019s Poems : Second Series (1891) enlisted in Section III ; \u2018Nature\u2019. Have you made that discovery in the final line, you may agree that Section I (\u2018Life\u2019) would have been the better choice. And pending that discovery, the metaphor insists on Section IV ; \u2018Time and Eternity\u2019. The section that opens with :<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
edited version (1891) \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0original<\/p>\n
<\/b>LET down the bars, O Death ! \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Let down the Bars, Oh Death \u2014 Thine is the stillest night, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Thine is the stillest night Read this a couple of times aloud. Which will make you experience what little impact the additions to the punctation do make on the phrasing of the \u2018melody\u2019. And how awkward that final comma is placed, that the editor didn\u2019t approve of. Dickinson\u2019s dashes, on the other hand, are exactly where they, judged by \u2018A narrow fellow\u2019, are to be expected. So there is no reason to doubt that she put her second comma into position with good judgment. The missing punctation marks may therefore be marking this comma out as important. And it indeed marks the spot where your respective wordsubstitutions for the editor\u2019s version and the original are going to fan out. Metrical ones at least. A substitution of English poetry for, say, Dutch prose, only does suggest that the editor knew his business. Something already made evident by the phrasing of the \u2018melody\u2019 :<\/span><\/p>\n edited version (1891) \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0original\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>Laat neer het hek, O Dood ! \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Laat neer het hek, Oh Dood \u2014 U biedt de stilste nacht.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0U biedt de stilste nacht \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0literally: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0literally: \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0poetically: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0poetically: Or something like that. The visible metaphor, meanwhile, is a perfect fit to its task of separating the sheep in Dickinson\u2019s audience from the goats. And the poem even has a stray line. One that only catches the eye that averts the metaphor\u2019s glare (and that recognizes a metaphor when it sees one). And while you are reading this poem once more with utmost attention, it is the duty of Literature Studies to provide some background information that may be important for its correct interpretation :<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The shepherd metaphor does not agree with using the opening words as a figure of speech. And where bars come down literally, a passageway gets blocked. Not always and everywhere, perhaps, but while the portcullis still is a familiar feature of American cattle pens, the concept of turning the grate into a treshold was in Dickinson\u2019s days unheard of. The poem\u2019s internal logic therefore forbids the use of present tense in the second line. That same present tense, however, is indisposable to the poem as a whole, which invites to explain the anomaly of a sloppy grammar away as a cosmetic necessity. A tempting option, because it avoids the problem of explaining why Dickinson tells The Shepherd of Souls to deny his flocks access to the night\u2019s pen.<\/p>\n The metaphor in the stray line opens the eyes for the key to correct interpretation (in case you have given up ; the stray line does not fit in with the shepherd metaphor, but refers to another personification of Death, one to which this line\u2019s entire stanza is tailored). And because the equation \u2018shape equals contents\u2019 goes a long way back as the central dogma of Western Art, the poem actually opens with this key (haven\u2019t found the stray line yet ? it is the key to this key, therefore try the other central dogma : \u2018balance\u2019). In its original version at least, because the editor has once again managed to alter the meaning of the entire poem. This time by interfering with the melody of the \u2018spoken music\u2019 :<\/p>\n O body, he thinks of his own. Kimberley Grey\u00a0<\/em> The opening exercise of rehearsing the \u2018music\u2019 was not principally prescribed to get the feel of Dickinson\u2019s phrasing. It rather offered you the key to a perfect interpretation directly from the composer\u2019s hand. And no matter how badly a romantic sound agrees with the opening stanza, it fits the first line\u2019s figure of speech like a glove. Like it fits the second stanza throughout.<\/p>\n This implies that the poem\u2019s composition as spoken music in a single move disqualifies the glaring metaphor as a mere cover story, and establishes the covered one as the linchpin. But the real value of interpreting Dickinson\u2019s poetry as a love song is in the resulting melody of speech : it makes the designed rest halfway the final line to sound perfectly natural. By which means Dickinson has once more underlined the comma\u2019s importance, and, if we want to understand her message, we better make sense of it. Even if there is no way to do so without disqualifying the newly identified linchpin metaphor as just another cover story.<\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n go to next chapter<\/a>\u00a0– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/span>\u00a0back to the previous chapter<\/a><\/span>–<\/span><\/p>\n post your comment under this link<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Instead of selling the chalk of illusion for the cheese of reality, the expert should better point at the metaphor. Saying : \u201cseek, and you will find what the poet has, especially for you, hidden within that metaphor.\u201d In case … Continue reading
\nThe tired flocks come in \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The tired Flocks come in
\nWhose bleating ceases to repeat, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Whose bleating ceases to repeat<\/span>
\nWhose wandering is done. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Whose wandering is done\u00a0\u2014<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\nThine the securest fold ; \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Thine the securest Fold
\nToo near thou art for seeking thee, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Too near Thou art for seeking Thee<\/span>
\nToo tender to be told. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Too tender, to be told.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\nDe Kuddes trekken in \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0De Kuddes trekken in
\nWier eind\u2019loos blaten nu verstomt, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Wier eind\u2019loos blaten nu verstomt<\/span>
\nWier zwerven is gedaan. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Wier zwerven is gedaan \u2014<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\nU het beschutste Oord ; \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0U het beschutste Oord
\nTe na zijt Gij dat men U zoekt, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Te na zijt Gij dat men U zoekt<\/span>
\nTe teder dan verwoordt. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Te teder, \u2018t moet verwoord.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\nTe teder om (van) te vertellen. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Te teder…\u00a0 om (van) te vertellen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nToo tender to be expressed. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Too tender…\u00a0 to be exposed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
\nOh body, when he\u2019s thinking of hers.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
\nfrom : The Difference Between Oh and O<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n