Today’s the big day – the RAPTURE! If it works like it should, all those MAGA-types should soar up into MAGA-heaven, leaving the rest of us down here – in what will now be heaven on earth without them! OH – except the likes of Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, and so many others won’t be departing – unless the Gates of Hell happen to open today as well to swallow them up? (I assume that will be called the Rupture.)
One can hope, no?
Well, in light of the coming joyful event, I looked up the word “rapture” on the Dickinson archive, and the search generated 23 entries representing 10 poems, and the Lexicon offered 7 definitions.
The poem that jumped out at me was “Two butterflies went out at noon” because it showed an entry for the Franklin edition of Dickinson’s “complete poems,” but not a version in the Johnson edition. The reason for this is that the version of the poem in Johnson does not include the word “rapture” while the version of the poem in Franklin does.
As a matter of fact, on one site I came upon that discussed this poem, a blogger stated, “This poem is one of the most revised poems (of Dickinson’s) I’ve come across yet with many alternate lines and words.” Some of the versions include the word “rapture,” and others do not.
One can hope, no?
Well, in light of the coming joyful event, I looked up the word “rapture” on the Dickinson archive, and the search generated 23 entries representing 10 poems, and the Lexicon offered 7 definitions.
The poem that jumped out at me was “Two butterflies went out at noon” because it showed an entry for the Franklin edition of Dickinson’s “complete poems,” but not a version in the Johnson edition. The reason for this is that the version of the poem in Johnson does not include the word “rapture” while the version of the poem in Franklin does.
As a matter of fact, on one site I came upon that discussed this poem, a blogger stated, “This poem is one of the most revised poems (of Dickinson’s) I’ve come across yet with many alternate lines and words.” Some of the versions include the word “rapture,” and others do not.
 |  In comparing the Johnson and Franklin versions of the poem, another comment I found interesting was, “I really have to like a poet who can convey a message and its converse in the same poem: observe your measurable limits and fall in love without limit or boundary. In the second version, the butterflies seem to have found a different path.” |
This reminds me of another poem for which I’ve thought the very same thing. I can interpret it in completely opposite ways. I’ll share that poem on Thursday. Tomorrow I’ll post something about punctuation since the 24th is National Punctuation Day. Of course – that all depends on if we’re all still here.
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