My most recent posts centered on the phraseology of Moira Rose (played by Catherine O’Hara) in Schitt’s Creek. I checked on some of the arcane terms she used to see if ever they appeared in the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Two of her works used the word “habiliments,” “Before you thought of spring” and “The way to know the Bobolink.” I shared these two poems yesterday and noted that “some lines and images (in them)...leave me in awe.”
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On the surface, “Before you thought of spring” is an ode to the bluebird. As a matter of a fact, when first published in 1891, editor Mabel Loomis Todd gave the poem the title of “The Bluebird,” and this particular bird has arrived early, “Before you thought of spring” (and, of course, in his “Inspiriting habiliments / Of indigo and brown”).
The second stanza is WONDERFUL: This early bird, a harbinger of the coming season of rebirth, alit upon “some superior tree / without a single leaf” and sings “for joy” to no one but himself. Symbolically, perhaps the bird represents those who pursue their passions for pure joy and intrinsic reward – those who create for no one but themselves. Hmm…think Emily Dickinson?
The second stanza is WONDERFUL: This early bird, a harbinger of the coming season of rebirth, alit upon “some superior tree / without a single leaf” and sings “for joy” to no one but himself. Symbolically, perhaps the bird represents those who pursue their passions for pure joy and intrinsic reward – those who create for no one but themselves. Hmm…think Emily Dickinson?
| Below and right: A "superior tree without a single leaf" near my home, I'm standing under the tree in the first pic. The tree is at least 300 years old.  |  |
I discussed the other poem, “The way to know the Bobolink,” close to a year and a half ago, HERE.
In that post, I called attention to the opening stanza (note that “joy,” again, takes center stage), the “whimsical and erudite nature” of the second stanza, and the “remarkable tribute to the bird” in lines 15 and 16, “He compliments existence / Until allured away.”
That acclamation called to mind Frank Lloyd Wright’s view of the cow:
“Why is any cow, red, black or white, always in just the right place for a picture in any landscape? Like a cypress tree in Italy, she is never wrongly placed. Her outlines quiet down so well into whatever contours surround her. A group of her in the landscape is enchantment.”
One other wonderful image that I didn’t mention back in that September 2024 post comes in the fifth stanza, the grounds for being “allured” away (at the close of the preceding stanza): “By Seasons or his Children / Adult and urgent grown.”
Adulting, amirite? “Adult and urgent grown”: The practice of behaving in a way characteristic of a responsible adult.
Suddenly I’m singing that song from “Bye, Bye, Birdie,” “Why can't they be like we were? Perfect in every way? What′s the matter with kids today?”
Well, back to that idea of creating for the pure joy of it – before the “children” spoiled the moment – be sure to re-read lines 13 and 14. For what do you have passion? Do you write? Sing? Play an instrument? Quilt? Dance? Paint? Whatever it is you do, do you do so “Extrinsic to Attention / Too intimate with Joy”?
I’ll pick up on this tomorrow.
In that post, I called attention to the opening stanza (note that “joy,” again, takes center stage), the “whimsical and erudite nature” of the second stanza, and the “remarkable tribute to the bird” in lines 15 and 16, “He compliments existence / Until allured away.”
That acclamation called to mind Frank Lloyd Wright’s view of the cow:
“Why is any cow, red, black or white, always in just the right place for a picture in any landscape? Like a cypress tree in Italy, she is never wrongly placed. Her outlines quiet down so well into whatever contours surround her. A group of her in the landscape is enchantment.”
One other wonderful image that I didn’t mention back in that September 2024 post comes in the fifth stanza, the grounds for being “allured” away (at the close of the preceding stanza): “By Seasons or his Children / Adult and urgent grown.”
Adulting, amirite? “Adult and urgent grown”: The practice of behaving in a way characteristic of a responsible adult.
Suddenly I’m singing that song from “Bye, Bye, Birdie,” “Why can't they be like we were? Perfect in every way? What′s the matter with kids today?”
Well, back to that idea of creating for the pure joy of it – before the “children” spoiled the moment – be sure to re-read lines 13 and 14. For what do you have passion? Do you write? Sing? Play an instrument? Quilt? Dance? Paint? Whatever it is you do, do you do so “Extrinsic to Attention / Too intimate with Joy”?
I’ll pick up on this tomorrow.
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