Sunday, April 28:
On the day after the final installment of that week, I posted Dickinson’s poem “The clouds their backs together laid,” and I included an artwork by contemporary artist Spencer Finch – the post is HERE. Pictured at the right: “Cloud Over Sun Study, 2010" by Spencer Finch At the time of that post, I mentioned that “one of these days” I would devote a week to Dickinson’s poems about clouds. Well, that day (and week) is here: A week of cloud poems! |
I've looked at clouds from both sides now From up and down, and still somehow It's cloud illusions, I recall I really don't know clouds at all However, when I ran the search and found the list of the 18 songs, other lists also popped up – and I saw lists with 20 songs, 21 songs, 22, 30 44, 50-plus, and even 105 songs. LOL. There are a lot of songs about (and with) clouds. I’ll stick with just 18 -- and that list is HERE. |
More on clouds and cloud poetry tomorrow!
Monday, April 29:
The word “cloud” appears in 27 different poems, and today I’m going to feature “A curious cloud surprised the sky”; however, before I get to that “curious cloud,” let me start with a question similar to that enigmatic opening line of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”:
Who was Ebenezer Snell?
Ebenezer Snell was the first student in the first class (1822) to graduate from Amherst College, and he was also the first college graduate to teach at Amherst Academy and the first alumnus to return to the college as a professor. He taught mathematics and natural philosophy.
For many, many years – decades, in fact – Snell would rise to record daily measurements and scientific observations about the day in “The Meteorological Journal Kept at Amherst College.” His daily calculations would include barometric pressure, temperature, winds, “fall of water,” “cloudiness,” and more. Snell’s “cloudiness” scale ran from 1 to 10, with 10 being a cloud covered day.
Every year Snell would add new columns and categories to his tabulations—wet bulb measurements, dry bulb measurements, mean temperature. “Pure Air” was a frequent entry in his logs.
You can read a bit about his weather-related work HERE.
So why this info about Ebenezer Snell and his daily observations?
Well, take a look at Dickinson’s poem, “A curious cloud surprised the sky.” Wow, what a cloud Dickinson saw in the sky that day – and I wonder what day, exactly, she penned this poem. It would be interesting to know the date, and then to check Snell’s notes to see what could have been going on that day to produce such a magnificent cloud. The Johnson edition of “Complete Poems” lists no year for this poem (i.e., date unknown). The Franklin edition lists “1863,” and the Miller edition shows this poem in Fascicle 24 – from 1863. Hmm…1863. What could have been going on in 1863 to produce a cloud of blue and gray? |
What do you think?