Part 1:
In October 1891, Thomas Wentworth Higginson published an article in The Atlantic entitled “Emily Dickinson’s Letters.”
Ten months earlier, he and Mabel Loomis Todd had prepared the first printing of Dickinson’s poems, and in this 1891 article he reported that the volume was “launched quietly and without any expectation of a wide audience; yet the outcome of it is that six editions…have been sold within six months, a suddenness of success almost without a parallel in American literature.”
Following the distribution of the first edition of “Poems,” Higginson said he was met with “a constant and earnest demand by her readers for further information in regard to her,” so he decided to print some of the letters she had sent to him.
“I have decided with much reluctance to give some extracts from her early correspondence…It seems to be the opinion of those who have examined her accessible correspondence most widely, that no other letters bring us quite so intimately near to the peculiar quality and aroma of her nature; and it has been urged upon me very strongly that her readers have the right to know something more of this gifted and most interesting woman.”
In addition to her letters, Dickinson would enclose some of her poems, and Higginson included some of those in his article. In recent posts I discussed two of those, “Your riches taught me poverty” and “A bird came down the walk.”
I have one more to share, about which Higginson said this, “Then came one which I have always classed among the most exquisite of her productions, with a singular felicity of phrase and an aerial lift that bears the ear upward….” – and that poem is…
** drum roll **
The focus of my post tomorrow! Alas, I have to run this morning – the start of a busy day! A Dickinsonian cliff hanger, if you will!
Stay tuned!
Ten months earlier, he and Mabel Loomis Todd had prepared the first printing of Dickinson’s poems, and in this 1891 article he reported that the volume was “launched quietly and without any expectation of a wide audience; yet the outcome of it is that six editions…have been sold within six months, a suddenness of success almost without a parallel in American literature.”
Following the distribution of the first edition of “Poems,” Higginson said he was met with “a constant and earnest demand by her readers for further information in regard to her,” so he decided to print some of the letters she had sent to him.
“I have decided with much reluctance to give some extracts from her early correspondence…It seems to be the opinion of those who have examined her accessible correspondence most widely, that no other letters bring us quite so intimately near to the peculiar quality and aroma of her nature; and it has been urged upon me very strongly that her readers have the right to know something more of this gifted and most interesting woman.”
In addition to her letters, Dickinson would enclose some of her poems, and Higginson included some of those in his article. In recent posts I discussed two of those, “Your riches taught me poverty” and “A bird came down the walk.”
I have one more to share, about which Higginson said this, “Then came one which I have always classed among the most exquisite of her productions, with a singular felicity of phrase and an aerial lift that bears the ear upward….” – and that poem is…
** drum roll **
The focus of my post tomorrow! Alas, I have to run this morning – the start of a busy day! A Dickinsonian cliff hanger, if you will!
Stay tuned!
Part 2:
In October 1891, Thomas Wentworth Higginson published an article in The Atlantic entitled “Emily Dickinson’s Letters.” In it, of course, he shared letters he’d received from Emily Dickinson; however, he also discussed some of the poems Dickinson had enclosed with her letters.
“Then came one (poem),” wrote Higginson, “which I have always classed among the most exquisite of her productions, with a singular felicity of phrase and an aerial lift that bears the ear upward….” – and that poem is…
** drum roll **
“The nearest Dream recedes – unrealized.”
And just FYI, Higginson’s full quote about the poem is “Then came one which I have always classed among the most exquisite of her productions, with a singular felicity of phrase and an aerial lift that bears the ear upward with the bee it traces.”
“Then came one (poem),” wrote Higginson, “which I have always classed among the most exquisite of her productions, with a singular felicity of phrase and an aerial lift that bears the ear upward….” – and that poem is…
** drum roll **
“The nearest Dream recedes – unrealized.”
And just FYI, Higginson’s full quote about the poem is “Then came one which I have always classed among the most exquisite of her productions, with a singular felicity of phrase and an aerial lift that bears the ear upward with the bee it traces.”
The poem is WONDERFUL, and it so perfectly reflects what Julia Hejduk wrote of the poet in her 2020 article “An Acrostic Window on Emily Dickinson’s ‘I dwell in Possibility,” that Dickinson was “a poet of incarnation – of the small, concrete, and quotidian becoming a vessel for the infinite.”
On the surface, most of the poem depicts a boy chasing a bee – as boys are wont to do, chase bugs in attempt to capture them; and in this case, the bee might represent various entities – but the bee “Dips – evades – teases – deploys –” and then “lifts his light Pinnace” (i.e., a small craft) “to the Royal Clouds.”
Dayum!!! What an image!
Below: Use of the word "pinnace" over the years:
On the surface, most of the poem depicts a boy chasing a bee – as boys are wont to do, chase bugs in attempt to capture them; and in this case, the bee might represent various entities – but the bee “Dips – evades – teases – deploys –” and then “lifts his light Pinnace” (i.e., a small craft) “to the Royal Clouds.”
Dayum!!! What an image!
Below: Use of the word "pinnace" over the years:
And the bee is “heedless of the boy” as he, bewildered, stares “at the mocking sky.”
LOL – I gotta add that years ago on a “Quote A Day” calendar, I came across the oddest, saddest quote about realizing one’s dreams from – of all people – Judy Garland – and I now wish I’d torn that page out to keep it because I cannot find that quote! Suffice it to say, the gist of Garland’s lamentation was truly a precis of this poem.*
Beyond the surface, Dickinson fashions the boy’s chase of the bee into a profound insight into the human experience of longing, hope and faith.
Following the poem, Higginson said, “The impression of a wholly new and original poetic genius was as distinct on my mind at the first reading of these four poems** as it is now, after thirty years of further knowledge; and with it came the problem never yet solved, what place ought to be assigned in literature to what is so remarkable, yet so elusive of criticism. The bee himself did not evade the schoolboy more than she evaded me; and even at this day I still stand somewhat bewildered, like the boy.”
* Maybe – just maybe – this is the Garland quote: ‘“We cast away priceless time in dreams, born of imagination, fed upon illusion, and put to death by reality.” I ran a couple of Google-searches and found this quote – but it’s not exactly as I remember it – but it comes close – so maybe this was it?
** The other three poems in the letter were “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers,” “We play at Paste,” and “I’ll tell you how the Sun rose.” Also, just FYI: a variant of this poem begins “The MADDEST Dream recedes – unrealized.”
LOL – I gotta add that years ago on a “Quote A Day” calendar, I came across the oddest, saddest quote about realizing one’s dreams from – of all people – Judy Garland – and I now wish I’d torn that page out to keep it because I cannot find that quote! Suffice it to say, the gist of Garland’s lamentation was truly a precis of this poem.*
Beyond the surface, Dickinson fashions the boy’s chase of the bee into a profound insight into the human experience of longing, hope and faith.
Following the poem, Higginson said, “The impression of a wholly new and original poetic genius was as distinct on my mind at the first reading of these four poems** as it is now, after thirty years of further knowledge; and with it came the problem never yet solved, what place ought to be assigned in literature to what is so remarkable, yet so elusive of criticism. The bee himself did not evade the schoolboy more than she evaded me; and even at this day I still stand somewhat bewildered, like the boy.”
* Maybe – just maybe – this is the Garland quote: ‘“We cast away priceless time in dreams, born of imagination, fed upon illusion, and put to death by reality.” I ran a couple of Google-searches and found this quote – but it’s not exactly as I remember it – but it comes close – so maybe this was it?
** The other three poems in the letter were “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers,” “We play at Paste,” and “I’ll tell you how the Sun rose.” Also, just FYI: a variant of this poem begins “The MADDEST Dream recedes – unrealized.”
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