Category: Geography

All Over The Map -- Part 3

11/13/2020

Based on Tim Marshall's book Prisoners of Geography (Part 1 of this post, HERE), I shared some data on the use of geographic terms in the poetry of Emily Dickinson (Part 2 of this post, HERE).

Here, in Part 3, I have provided the poems (via first lines) which use the terms river, desert, mountain, hill, ocean and sea (note: I also checked the Dickinson archive for the use of the word "jungle," but there were zero entries).

RIVER

Have you got a brook in your little heart
How far is it to heaven?
I did not reach thee
Least Rivers -- docile to some sea.
Me prove it now - Whoever doubt
My river runs to thee
Read -- Sweet -- how others -- strove --
The hills erect their purple heads
The mountains stood in haze
There came a wind like a bugle
Twice had summer her fair verdure
What twigs we held by

DESERT

As watchers hang opon the east
Civilization -- spurns -- the Leopard!
Distrustful of the Gentian --
Flees so the phantom meadow
For this - accepted breath
Her sweet turn to leave the homestead
I cross till I am weary
I did not reach thee
I think the hemlock likes to stand
Of all the sounds despatched abroad
Put up my lute!
Strong draughts of their refreshing minds
Until the desert knows
With thee in the desert

MOUNTAIN

HILL

"Heaven" -- is what I cannot reach!
"Heaven" has different Signs -- to me --
"Nature" is what we see
"Sic transit gloria mundi,"
A Lady red -- amid the Hill
A light exists in spring
A little east of Jordan
A Tongue -- to tell Him I am true!
All overgrown by cunning moss,
Alter! When the hills do
An altered look about the hills
As imperceptibly as grief
Bees are black with gilt surcingles
Dear March - come in
Delayed till she had ceased to know
Dew -- is the Freshet in the Grass --
Forget! The lady with the amulet
Frequently the woods are pink
Glowing is her bonnet
God made a little gentian
Good morning - midnight
Have any like myself
Have you got a brook in your little heart
How many flowers fail in wood
I did not reach thee
I envy seas whereon he rides
I have never seen 'volcanoes'
I like to see it lap the miles
I never told the buried gold
I'll tell you how the sun rose
It will be Summer -- eventually.
It's thoughts -- and just One Heart --
Joy to have merited the pain
Like men and women shadows walk
Like rain it sounded till it curved
Me change! Me alter!
My faith is larger than the hills
Nature -- the Gentlest Mother is,
One sister have I in our house
She died at play
Sic transit gloria mundi
Some Rainbow -- coming from the Fair!
Some things that fly there be
Summer begins to have the look
Sweet mountains - ye tell me no lie
The angle of a landscape
The brain within its groove
The bumble of a bee
The Day came slow -- till Five o'clock --
The going from a world we know
The hallowing of pain
The hills erect their purple heads
The hills in purple syllables
The lilac is an ancient shrub
The murmur of a bee
The name -- of it -- is "Autumn" --
The road was lit with moon and star
The skies cant keep their secret!
The sun kept stooping - stooping - low!
The sunrise runs for both
There is a flower that bees prefer
They called me to the window, for
Tie the strings to my life, my Lord
Up life's hill with my little bundle
When we stand on the tops of things
While Asters --

OCEAN

A bird came down the walk
Fortitude incarnate
I cannot live with you
I think that the root of the wind is water
I years had been from home
Ourselves were wed one summer - dear
The drop that wrestles in the sea
Water is taught by thirst
We miss a kinsman more

SEA

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
"Nature" is what we see
"Red Sea" indeed! Talk not to me
[Sh]should you but fail [at] -- Sea --
A chilly peace infests the grass
A Coffin -- is a small Domain,
A dew sufficed itself
A drop fell on the apple tree
A great hope fell
A sloop of amber slips away
A soft sea washed around the house
All forgot for recollecting
An hour is a sea
As if the sea should part
At least -- to pray -- is left -- is left --
Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine
Because my brook is fluent
Behind Me -- dips Eternity --
Bereaved of all I went abroad
Between My Country -- and the Others --
By my window have I for scenery
Contained in this short life
Could mortal lip divine
Each second is the last
Empty my heart of thee
Escaping backward to perceive
Exultation is the going
Forget! The lady with the amulet
Fortitude incarnate
From cocoon forth a butterfly
Further in summer than the birds
Glee - The great storm is over
Gratitude -- is not the mention
He told a homely tale
He touched me, so I live to know
Her sweet turn to leave the homestead
How sick -- to wait -- in any place -- but thine --
How slow the Wind --
I could suffice for him I knew
I cross till I am weary
I did not reach thee
I envy seas whereon he rides
I have a bird in spring
I learned -- at least -- what Home could be --
I many times thought peace had come
I never saw a moor
I sometimes drop it for a quick
I started early - took my dog
I stepped from plank to plank
I think To Live -- may be a Bliss
I went to thank her
If my bark sink
If wrecked opon the bay of thought
Least Rivers -- docile to some sea.
Lift it - with the feathers
Like rain it sounded till it curved
Me prove it now - Whoever doubt
My Garden -- like the Beach --
My river runs to thee
Nor mountain hinder me
Of death I try to think like this
On this wondrous sea
One day is there of the series
One life of so much consequence!
Opon a lilac sea
She rose to his requirement - dropt
Some Rainbow -- coming from the Fair!
Still own thee - still thou art
Sweet pirate of the heart
The bird did prance - the bee did play
The Brain -- is wider than the Sky --
The drop that wrestles in the sea
The duties of the wind are few
The earth has many keys.
The feet of people walking home
The frost of death was on the pane
The heart has narrow banks
The Malay -- took the Pearl --
The moon is distant from the sea
The sea said "Come" to the brook
The Spirit lasts -- but in what mode --
There is a solitude of space
There is a strength in proving that it can be borne
They called me to the window, for
They put us far apart
This -- is the land -- the Sunset washes --
This is the place they hoped before
Those not live yet
Tie the strings to my life, my Lord
'Tis good -- the looking back on Grief --
'Tis little I -- could care for Pearls --
'Tis so much joy! 'Tis so much joy!
To interrupt his yellow plan
To lose thee -- sweeter than to gain
To tell the beauty would decrease
'Twas such a little - little boat
Two butterflies went out at noon
Upon a Lilac Sea
Valentine week
We send the wave to find the wave
What mystery pervades a well!
What would I give to see his face?
Where Ships of Purple -- gently toss --
Whether my bark went down at sea
Wild nights - Wild nights!
Without this -- there is nought --
You left me - sire - two legacies
You'll know it -- as you know 'tis Noon --
You've seen balloons set - hav'nt you?

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All Over The Map -- Part 2

11/12/2020

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Part 1 to this post is HERE.

My wife and I started reading Prisoners of Geography last night. In the introduction to the book, author Tim Marshall reported, "Overall there is no one geographical factor that is more important than any other. Mountains are no more important than deserts, nor rivers than jungles."

Of course, that got me a-wonderin': Are there geographical factors that are more important in the poetry of Emily Dickinson?

To look into this, I went immediately to the online archive of Dickinson's poetry (HERE) and researched the number of poems written by the poet that used the following words:

1. Mountain
2. Hill -- since in Dickinson's poetry, "hill" often denotes a mountain.
3. Desert
4. Jungle
5. Sea
6 Ocean -- since ocean is synonymous with sea, and both seas & oceans are natural geographical boundaries.

How did I gather my data? I followed these steps:

1. At the Dickinson archive, I ran a search on a specific term -- like "mountain," which had 63 entries.
2. I then copied all of the entries and pasted them into a spreadsheet.
3. Once I had all of the entries on my spread sheet, I sorted the sheet by the "First Line/Title" column.
4. At that point I deleted titles that were duplicated on the spreadsheet -- and then I calculated the new total of poems.

Once I had my totals, I also took one additional step: I conducted the "search within these results." For example, after I ran a search for "hill," I searched "within these results" to see if any of the poems also included the word "mountain" There was one (see below).

Interestingly, though, when I ran a similar search -- for the word "hill" within my search for "mountain" -- no poems were found (when the poem cited above, "Sweet mountains - ye tell me no lie" does, in fact, include both "mountain" and "hill").

So are there geographical factors that are more important in the poetry of Emily Dickinson? Here are my results:

Mountain & Hill

Mountain: 63 entries in the archive representing 23 poems.
Hill: 164 entries representing 66 poems.

One poem (mentioned above) included both "mountain" and "hill," so the total number equals 88 poems.

Desert

Desert: 32 entries in the archive representing 14 poems.

River

River: 30 entries in the archive representing 12 poems.

Jungle

Jungle: 0 entries, 0 poems.

Sea & Ocean

Sea: 275 entries in the archive representing 110 poems.
Ocean: 25 entries representing 9 poems.

One poem, "The drop that wrestles in the sea," contains both words "sea" and "ocean," so the total number of poems equals 118.

Below: Pie charts for "number of entries in the archive" and "number of poems" are almost identical. I wasn't surprised at all with the results for "jungle" (zero uses) and "desert," but I was surprised at the low usage of the word "river" (which was used even fewer times than "desert").

Of course, numbers for "river" would increase if I were to check on the usage of "stream" or "brook" too, but I didn't check those words since streams and brooks are not generally used as geographic borders for nations.

Below is the same information as above. However, I separated out the data for "mountain" vs. "hill" and for "ocean" vs. "sea."

The first lines of all of the poems that use the terms river, desert, mountain, hill, ocean and sea are in Part 3 of this post, HERE.

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All Over The Map -- Part 1

11/12/2020

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My wife and I are certainly not expert cartographers or geographers, but we are lovers of maps and geography. Does that make us geoographiles? Geographomaniacs?

Anyway, last night we started reading Tim Marshall's Prisoners of Geography together, and we were hooked immediately.

The book explores "Ten maps that explain everything about the world." The ten maps are as follows:

* Russia
* China
* United States
* Western Europe
* Africa
* The Middle East
* India and Pakistan
* Korea and Japan
* Latin America
* The Arctic

Yes, Americanophiles -- those who continually chant "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!" at every opportunity -- will be disappointed that the map of the United States isn't discussed first, but Russia, after all, is the largest country in the world.

The first chapter, the one my wife and I read and discussed last night, begins, "Russia is vast. It is the vastest." Were this text written by E. E. Cummings, the next line would have proclaimed that Russia is "vaster than vastest," but Marshall followed with just the descriptor, "Immense."

The chapter gave a brief history of the country and a succinct explanation of how its shifting boundaries over time created the country that is present-day Russia. Marshall spelled out how the geography of this vaster than vastest country impacted the politics and ideologies of those in control, whether "czarist, Communist, or crony capitalist."

A fascinating portion of the chapter explored the "stans" -- those that are neutral (Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan), those in the pro-Russia camp (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Balarus, and Armenia), and those which are pro-Western (Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaira, Hungary, Slovakia, Albania, and Romania) -- and how geography has influenced and shaped those countries' politics. Marshall also included a concise summary of geography's role in Russia's illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

In the introduction to his book, Marshall stated, "Overall there is no one geographical factor that is more important than any other. Mountains are no more important than deserts, nor rivers than jungles."

Hmm. That got me a-wonderin'. Are there geographical factors that are more important in the poetry of Emily Dickinson?

To find out, I scooted on over to the online Dickinson archive -- HERE -- and I conducted a bit of geographical research on the terms straight out of Marshall's book (from that statement cited above): Mountain, desert, river and jungle. I also added three other words into the mix:

1. Hill. I decided to take a look at "hill" along with "mountain" because in many if not all of Dickinson's poems about the elevation of the earth's surface, "hill" is really just a stand in for "mountain." Take the following for example:

The Hills erect their Purple Heads
The Rivers lean to see
Yet Man has not of all the Throng
A Curiosity.

Don't you think Dickinson was really talking "mountains" in that poem versus "hills"?

What is the difference between a hill and a mountain anyway? Maybe I need to re-watch that movie "The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain.

2. Sea. Although Marshall did not mention the word "sea" in his statement above, I included the word "sea" in my exploration of geographical terms in Dickinson's poetry since seas are, in fact, natural borders for many countries across the globe.

3. Ocean. I included a look at "ocean" along with my search into Dickinson's use of the word "sea" since the terms are synonymous.

Sooo...what do you think I discovered? Is there one geographical factor that is more important than any other in the poetry of Emily Dickinson?

Do mountains play a more vital role than the seas? Do rivers outrank the desert? What about jungles?

While I double check my findings, you gather your thoughts on the matter, and I'll post my results soon in Part 2 of this post. In the meantime. check out this article, "Zones of the Soul: Emily Dickinson's Geographical Imagery," HERE (once on the page, click on "Alternate access options for independent researchers).

I'll publish my results in Part 2 of this post soon!

BY THE WAY, YOU CAN ORDER A COPY OF PRISONERS OF GEOGRAPHY AT CHARM CITY BOOKS, HERE.

SUPPORT INDIE BOOK STORES BY ORDERING A COPY TODAY!

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The Gaffe of Mexico

3/31/2019

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From our current affairs editor, Lemuel Stuart III:

I came across this article today -- 15 National Geography Bee Questions Only Geniuses Will Get Right (HERE) – and I had to laugh because I realized that no Fox News talking head, no Trump family member, and no MAGAt would do well on this quiz. How did I reach this conclusion? It was easy:

Of course, Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) was always the first to admit that he was ill-informed when it came to geography – so the Fox News blunder called to mind Dickinson’s “Volcanoes be in Mexico” (below on the left). Dickinson’s poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem “Volcanoes be in Sicily” (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Volcanoes be in Mexico
And South Mexico
I judge from my Geography –
Volcanoes everywhere
A Lava step at any time
As I’m inclined to rhyme –
Accuracy I abdicate
Erroneous I roam

By Emily Dickinson:

Volcanoes be in Sicily
And South America
I judge from my Geography --
Volcanos nearer here
A Lava step at any time
Am I inclined to climb --
A Crater I may contemplate
Vesuvius at Home.

Below: Rupert Murdoch issued an apology today for the gaffe of Mexico on Fox News yesterday:

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All Over The Map -- Part 3

RIVER

DESERT

MOUNTAIN

HILL

OCEAN

SEA

All Over The Map -- Part 2

Mountain & Hill

Desert

River

Jungle

Sea & Ocean

All Over The Map -- Part 1

BY THE WAY, YOU CAN ORDER A COPY OF PRISONERS OF GEOGRAPHY AT CHARM CITY BOOKS, HERE.

SUPPORT INDIE BOOK STORES BY ORDERING A COPY TODAY!

The Gaffe of Mexico

Archives

PLOG

Categories

All Over The Map -- Part 3

RIVER

DESERT

MOUNTAIN

HILL

OCEAN

SEA

All Over The Map -- Part 2

Mountain & Hill

Desert

River

Jungle

Sea & Ocean

All Over The Map -- Part 1

BY THE WAY, YOU CAN ORDER A COPY OF PRISONERS OF GEOGRAPHY AT CHARM CITY BOOKS, HERE. SUPPORT INDIE BOOK STORES BY ORDERING A COPY TODAY!

The Gaffe of Mexico

Archives

PLOG

Categories

BY THE WAY, YOU CAN ORDER A COPY OF PRISONERS OF GEOGRAPHY AT CHARM CITY BOOKS, HERE.

SUPPORT INDIE BOOK STORES BY ORDERING A COPY TODAY!