A couple of days ago I wrote about Emily Dickinson’s letter/poem to Susan Gilbert when she (Susan) was visiting relatives in New Hampshire. The poem, “On this wondrous sea,” includes an appeal at the top of the page: “Write! Comrade, Write!”
Hmm…I s’pose Susan was being a bit stingy with any return correspondence to Emily.
Anyway, in discussing this letter/poem, Dickinson scholar Thomas Johnson noted the following:
“Poems (1896), 200, titled "Eternity"; LL 78-79. With Dickinson drawing a line between stanzas (significant for interpreting the identities of stanzas identified with ‘Safe in their Alabaster Chambers’).”
Hmm…I s’pose Susan was being a bit stingy with any return correspondence to Emily.
Anyway, in discussing this letter/poem, Dickinson scholar Thomas Johnson noted the following:
“Poems (1896), 200, titled "Eternity"; LL 78-79. With Dickinson drawing a line between stanzas (significant for interpreting the identities of stanzas identified with ‘Safe in their Alabaster Chambers’).”
I mention this because – to be honest – I’m perplexed. What in the world does he mean by this, that the line is “significant for interpreting the identities of stanzas identified with ‘Safe in their Alabaster Chambers”?
I wrote about “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” at the end of March, HERE.
However, I’m not sure why an underline on the written page of “On this wondrous sea” would be “significant” for interpreting the stanzas of another poem.
“On this wondrous sea” was the first poem Dickinson sent to Sue via a letter (that we know of). She sent it in 1853 when both were twenty-three years old. “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” was written some six or seven years later.
Johnson’s notes on “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” can be found HERE.
R. W. Franklin’s notes on this poem in his Variorum Edition of Dickinson’s poetry can be found HERE.
Is there anything in either of these two documents that you see that could relate to Thomas’ comment about the line between the stanzas in “On this wondrous sea”?
More on Johnson’s comments on “On this wondrous sea” tomorrow.
I wrote about “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” at the end of March, HERE.
However, I’m not sure why an underline on the written page of “On this wondrous sea” would be “significant” for interpreting the stanzas of another poem.
“On this wondrous sea” was the first poem Dickinson sent to Sue via a letter (that we know of). She sent it in 1853 when both were twenty-three years old. “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” was written some six or seven years later.
Johnson’s notes on “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” can be found HERE.
R. W. Franklin’s notes on this poem in his Variorum Edition of Dickinson’s poetry can be found HERE.
Is there anything in either of these two documents that you see that could relate to Thomas’ comment about the line between the stanzas in “On this wondrous sea”?
More on Johnson’s comments on “On this wondrous sea” tomorrow.
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