Before reading today’s post, try this: Read the poem below and think about what it might mean. Determine what Dickinson’s words mean to you before the possibility that your interpretation could be influenced by what is said below.
NOTE: I WILL BE TRAVELLING THIS WEEKEND, SO NO DAILY POSTS ON SATURDAY, 5/16, SUNDAY, 6/17, OR MONDAY, 5/18. I WILL POST TOMORROW, AND THEN I'LL RESUME WITH DAILY POSTS ON TUESDAY, 5/19.
So here’s today’s post:
Parlay the voo Fran-say? Alas I do not. The only two things I know how to say in French are “mow d’lawn,” for “cut the grass,” and “come and tie my shoe,” which I think is a formal way of saying “How are you?”
Why my sudden interest in French? Well, I’m about to enjoy a mostly-French weekend in Chicago. Voici le scoop (that’s “here’s the scoop” in French. I looked it up.)
I’m a classical music fan, and there are a handful of pieces for which I would travel far and wide to hear. Some examples: I visited Washington DC to hear Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto 2 (before he-who-must-not-be-named destroyed the Kennedy Center); I traveled to Pittsburgh to listen to Lang Lang perform the Grieg Piano Concerto in A Minor; and I trained up to the Big Apple to catch the New York Philharmonic’s interpretation of Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture. And this weekend? I’m flying to Chicago to experience Camille Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3, the “Organ Symphony.”
Parlay the voo Fran-say? Alas I do not. The only two things I know how to say in French are “mow d’lawn,” for “cut the grass,” and “come and tie my shoe,” which I think is a formal way of saying “How are you?”
Why my sudden interest in French? Well, I’m about to enjoy a mostly-French weekend in Chicago. Voici le scoop (that’s “here’s the scoop” in French. I looked it up.)
I’m a classical music fan, and there are a handful of pieces for which I would travel far and wide to hear. Some examples: I visited Washington DC to hear Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto 2 (before he-who-must-not-be-named destroyed the Kennedy Center); I traveled to Pittsburgh to listen to Lang Lang perform the Grieg Piano Concerto in A Minor; and I trained up to the Big Apple to catch the New York Philharmonic’s interpretation of Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture. And this weekend? I’m flying to Chicago to experience Camille Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3, the “Organ Symphony.”
I love the entire symphony, but the final movement is SUBLIME. Interestingly, I ran a search on “sublime music,” and this statement popped up: “Sublime music, characterized as blending awe, beauty, and a slight sense of terror or overwhelming power, transports listeners by tapping into the infinite and humbling them.” Well, I’m not expecting any sense of terror this weekend, but awe, beauty, and overwhelming power – yes! (If you’ve not heard this work, you can listen to the finale HERE – conducted by Gustavo Dudamel at the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris.)
By the way, the CSO concert is all French. In addition to the work by Saint-Saëns, the program includes Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and Francis Poulenc’s Gloria. Then, the next day, my daughter and I are attending a matinee of Les Miz at the Cadillac Palace Theater. Ooo la la! (That’s another bit of French I know.)
Anyway, with the CSO concert approaching, I searched the Dickinson archive to see if she’d ever used the word “organ” in any of her poems, and she did – in one, “I’ve heard an Organ talk, sometimes" (the poem above).
I gotta say, though, that in exploring this poem, I found a number of analyses that differed greatly from my take on it. Remember that quote I mentioned just above from my search on “sublime music”? This one, “Sublime music, characterized as blending awe, beauty, and a slight sense of terror or overwhelming power, transports listeners by tapping into the infinite and humbling them.”
In Dickinson’s poem, I sensed nothing but awe, beauty and the overwhelming power of music that humbled the speaker in the poem. Other interpretations I came upon, though, were much darker and included more of that “sense of terror” – not necessarily from the organ music itself, but more perhaps from the memories triggered of past traumas which may have occurred within the church?
One comment I saw said, “She was probably molested by someone.” (Hmm…I wonder if the one who offered this observation meant Dickinson or the speaker in the poem?) Others spoke of additional poems by Dickinson that implied psychological and/or physical abuse endured at some point in her life.
For me, though, as a pianist, former high school and college band geek, and lover of classical music, I simply read into the poem the transformative power of transcendent music. The poem does refer to a change in the speaker, but again, I chalked that up to the deep emotional reaction to the music.
I explored one article from the National Library of Medicine entitled “The transformative power of music: Insights into neuroplasticity, health, and disease” (HERE). It discussed how music can induce changes in heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and more – all from the emotions brought on by chords, rhythms, and melodies. The power of music connects, transforms, and heals – and that’s what I read into Dickinson’s poem. I wonder – if you read the poem first before reading any of this – did your interpretation land closer to mine – or closer to those who perceived something more troubling?
Let me know, and for now I’ll just say “la vee.” I’m to understand the French say that a lot.
I gotta say, though, that in exploring this poem, I found a number of analyses that differed greatly from my take on it. Remember that quote I mentioned just above from my search on “sublime music”? This one, “Sublime music, characterized as blending awe, beauty, and a slight sense of terror or overwhelming power, transports listeners by tapping into the infinite and humbling them.”
In Dickinson’s poem, I sensed nothing but awe, beauty and the overwhelming power of music that humbled the speaker in the poem. Other interpretations I came upon, though, were much darker and included more of that “sense of terror” – not necessarily from the organ music itself, but more perhaps from the memories triggered of past traumas which may have occurred within the church?
One comment I saw said, “She was probably molested by someone.” (Hmm…I wonder if the one who offered this observation meant Dickinson or the speaker in the poem?) Others spoke of additional poems by Dickinson that implied psychological and/or physical abuse endured at some point in her life.
For me, though, as a pianist, former high school and college band geek, and lover of classical music, I simply read into the poem the transformative power of transcendent music. The poem does refer to a change in the speaker, but again, I chalked that up to the deep emotional reaction to the music.
I explored one article from the National Library of Medicine entitled “The transformative power of music: Insights into neuroplasticity, health, and disease” (HERE). It discussed how music can induce changes in heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and more – all from the emotions brought on by chords, rhythms, and melodies. The power of music connects, transforms, and heals – and that’s what I read into Dickinson’s poem. I wonder – if you read the poem first before reading any of this – did your interpretation land closer to mine – or closer to those who perceived something more troubling?
Let me know, and for now I’ll just say “la vee.” I’m to understand the French say that a lot.
Below: COMING ATTRACTIONS: IT'S GOING TO BE A THRILLING WEEKEND!
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