Yesterday’s post focused on little-known definitions for the word “march” – beyond that as the name of the third month, a militaristic stride, and a musical composition. I mentioned that one definition – a border or edge – was similar to the meaning of the word “marge” – also a border or edge. However, the two terms, “march” and “marge” are unrelated – or at least they are very distant cousins?
By the way, I wrote of Dickinson’s use of “marge” a few months ago, HERE.
So what of words that sound related but aren’t?
I explored that question a bit and found this article, HERE, by Arika Okrent from 2015, “15 pairs of words that seem etymologically related by aren’t.” The tagline offers one example: “There's no bomb in bombast.”
That subtitle made me wonder, “was Dickinson more bomb than bombast?”
By the way, I wrote of Dickinson’s use of “marge” a few months ago, HERE.
So what of words that sound related but aren’t?
I explored that question a bit and found this article, HERE, by Arika Okrent from 2015, “15 pairs of words that seem etymologically related by aren’t.” The tagline offers one example: “There's no bomb in bombast.”
That subtitle made me wonder, “was Dickinson more bomb than bombast?”
I checked the Dickinson archive and found that the Belle of Amherst is most def “da bomb,” no “bombast” at all. That’s right, she never used the word “bombast” in any of her poems. However, she did use the word “bomb,” in four poems to be exact. However, the exactitude shows a magnitude of attitude when trying to conclude the correctitude of which they include – tied to the volume you’ve viewed. Don’t come unglued. Here’s to what I allude:
Three of the poems with “bomb” appear in both the Johnson and Franklin editions: “The soul has bandaged moments,” “These are the nights that beetles love,” and “To interrupt His Yellow Plan.” However, take a look at the poems “I tie my Hat – I crease my Shawl” and “A Pit – but Heaven over it.” Do you see what’s happened there? Both of these poems appear in Dickinson’s “Fascicle Twenty-Four”; however, five lines – one of which includes the word “bomb” – switch between the two poems in the Johnson and Franklin editions.
Three of the poems with “bomb” appear in both the Johnson and Franklin editions: “The soul has bandaged moments,” “These are the nights that beetles love,” and “To interrupt His Yellow Plan.” However, take a look at the poems “I tie my Hat – I crease my Shawl” and “A Pit – but Heaven over it.” Do you see what’s happened there? Both of these poems appear in Dickinson’s “Fascicle Twenty-Four”; however, five lines – one of which includes the word “bomb” – switch between the two poems in the Johnson and Franklin editions.
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This is how Cristanne Miller explains how this happened in her edition, “Emily Dickinson’s Poems, As She Preserved Them”:
“The second leaf of Sh1 (of A Pit – but Heaven above it –), containing most of this poem and the next, was torn off and lost; ED finished copying this poem on a leaf also containing the end of “I tie my Hat – I crease my Shawl –,” bound into the fascicle between Sh5 and Sh6, after the latter poem. The first sixteen lines of the poem come from Graves’s transcription; the last five, from the extant leaf. Because I do not include notice of leaves or slips on which ED completes poems, the leaf containing the end of these two poems is not enumerated here.”
And then there’s the poem “One joy of so much anguish.” That poem popped up in the results when I ran a search for “bomb” on the Dickinson archive, but the word doesn’t appear in the poem at all. What’s up with that? I’ll explain tomorrow.
“The second leaf of Sh1 (of A Pit – but Heaven above it –), containing most of this poem and the next, was torn off and lost; ED finished copying this poem on a leaf also containing the end of “I tie my Hat – I crease my Shawl –,” bound into the fascicle between Sh5 and Sh6, after the latter poem. The first sixteen lines of the poem come from Graves’s transcription; the last five, from the extant leaf. Because I do not include notice of leaves or slips on which ED completes poems, the leaf containing the end of these two poems is not enumerated here.”
And then there’s the poem “One joy of so much anguish.” That poem popped up in the results when I ran a search for “bomb” on the Dickinson archive, but the word doesn’t appear in the poem at all. What’s up with that? I’ll explain tomorrow.
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