TO READ PART 1, CLICK HERE.
A few years back, I attended a presentation at the Folger Library in DC where a poet/literary critic presented her Top Ten Dickinson poems about death and grief. Therefore, in tribute to the 138th anniversary of Emily Dickinson’s death, I thought I’d post my Top Ten – but so far I’ve posted one, “Back from the cordial Grave I drag thee,” a short and shadowy poem that more than hints at necromania. Then I veered off track with a couple of posts about a Dickinson blog I stumbled upon.
A few years back, I attended a presentation at the Folger Library in DC where a poet/literary critic presented her Top Ten Dickinson poems about death and grief. Therefore, in tribute to the 138th anniversary of Emily Dickinson’s death, I thought I’d post my Top Ten – but so far I’ve posted one, “Back from the cordial Grave I drag thee,” a short and shadowy poem that more than hints at necromania. Then I veered off track with a couple of posts about a Dickinson blog I stumbled upon.
| Now, before I continue with the next poem in my Top Ten, I have one more post on the side with a short poem related to the theme of necromania found in “Back from the cordial Grave I drag thee”: “Ah, Necromancy sweet!” Ah, Necromancy Sweet! Ah, Wizard erudite! Teach me the skill, That I instill the pain Surgeons assuage in vain, Nor Herb of all the plain Can heal! |  |
This poem can certainly be interpreted in a variety of ways. First, is the speaker summoning help from the Dead and/or Wizards so that she can instill pain into some unknown adversary? Or does the speaker suffer from pain from some unnamed malady and she is asking the Dead and/or Wizards for knowledge and skill to alleviate the physical or mental agony?
The online Emily Dickinson Lexicon linked to the Dickinson Archive defines her use of “instill” as “Infuse slowly; add gradually; receive in small quantities; [reflexive] sip; partake of” – so I suppose the uncertainty here centers on whether she is going to “instill” a remedy upon the pain or is the looking to instill “the pain” on someone else – a pain no herb or surgeon can heal.
But there are other ways to interpret this poem. For example, on one blog about the poem, I saw this comment:
“Her necromancy is to address some great deceased writer, a dead master who was a wizard erudite, possibly her great master Shakespeare. The pain she wishes to instil is of course the hunger for true identity and self-knowledge which great art alone can accomplish. Her message is folded lest she seem a boaster.”
Here is yet another interpretation:
“Necromancy is not only the ability to converse with the dead, but also the ability to see the future. I think she has hurt somebody and wants to see if there is some way in the future that the pain she has instilled can be relieved? Possibly pain she inflicted on her mother?”
What are your thoughts on this poem?
RSS Feed
