O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! It’s National Candy Corn Day – and don’t tell me that the War on National Candy Corn Day is bogus. Candy corn is the most maligned candy out there!
But I digress. Let’s get to Dickinson. In her poetry, did she refer more to “candy” or to “corn”?
A drumroll please!
And the winner is – CORN!
She never used the word “candy” in any of her poems; however, “corn” yields twenty-three entries on the online archive, representing eight different poems.
One of her “corn” poems I LOVE is “None can experience stint” – and when I explored the interwebs about it, I found something quite unusual. Hmm…I actually uncovered two unusual bits about this poem, but for now, those will have to wait.
But I digress. Let’s get to Dickinson. In her poetry, did she refer more to “candy” or to “corn”?
A drumroll please!
And the winner is – CORN!
She never used the word “candy” in any of her poems; however, “corn” yields twenty-three entries on the online archive, representing eight different poems.
One of her “corn” poems I LOVE is “None can experience stint” – and when I explored the interwebs about it, I found something quite unusual. Hmm…I actually uncovered two unusual bits about this poem, but for now, those will have to wait.
 |  To start, ”None can experience stint” is a two-stanza, eight-line poem, and for the most part, it consists of profound, philosophical observations presented in unrhymed couplets (and in not unexpected Dickinson fashion, each stanza follows a very loosey-goosey A-B-C-B rhyme scheme where the final consonant of “known” rhymes with the final consonant of “corn,” and the final sibilant “s” sound in “Reverse” rhymes with the soft “c” in “indigence”) – and each of the pairs of lines is impactful and intense. |
In brief, the short poem emphasizes the fact that one’s perspective is finite – for lack of a better word – and that one cannot be aware of what exists beyond one’s knowledge and experience (i.e., you know what you know, and you don’t know what you don’t know).
Lines 1 & 2: One cannot experience insufficiency or poverty without having experienced or having knowledge of wealth. Lines 3 and 4: Famine cannot “be” – except that it “is” due to our knowledge and understanding of the “Fact of Corn,” i.e., “abundance.” Lines 5 and 6: The longing and desire for something is better understood when one becomes aware of something preferable (therefore, learned “in reverse”). Lines 7 and 8: Therefore, the state of poverty – if/when completely unaware of the concept of “wealth” – will not be perceived by the individual as indigence.
Each pair of lines blows my mind, and in exploring all of this, I came across philosophical writings and ideas linked to “Socrates' claim of wisdom through knowing he knew nothing,” emphasizing the importance of recognizing the vastness of what one does’t know; that your current worldview is shaped by what you've learned and are familiar with; and that there's an entire realm of "unknown unknowns" you are not yet aware (is that a triple negative? LOL). I daresay Dickinson could have held her own with Socrates.
Not me, though. (“Not I” for any pedants out there.) The extent of my grasp on philosophy can be summed up with this:
“To be is to do”: Socrates.
“To do is to be”: Sartre
“Do be do be do”: Sinatra
Enough silliness. Let me get back to my earlier statement about the unusual finds I encountered when exploring this poem. What were they?
The first was a translation of the poem into Dutch, HERE. The site seems to include most if not all of Dickinson’s poems – each one in English and in Dutch – with lots of other info too, all of it in Dutch.
The other discovery involves sites which erroneously present the poem as “None can experience STING” – instead of STINT – which then generates confusion for Google’s “AI Overview.”
I’ll revisit both of those items in the coming days. For now –
Have a happy National Candy Corn Day! Or a they say in Dutch, “Fijne Nationale Candy Corn Dag!”
Lines 1 & 2: One cannot experience insufficiency or poverty without having experienced or having knowledge of wealth. Lines 3 and 4: Famine cannot “be” – except that it “is” due to our knowledge and understanding of the “Fact of Corn,” i.e., “abundance.” Lines 5 and 6: The longing and desire for something is better understood when one becomes aware of something preferable (therefore, learned “in reverse”). Lines 7 and 8: Therefore, the state of poverty – if/when completely unaware of the concept of “wealth” – will not be perceived by the individual as indigence.
Each pair of lines blows my mind, and in exploring all of this, I came across philosophical writings and ideas linked to “Socrates' claim of wisdom through knowing he knew nothing,” emphasizing the importance of recognizing the vastness of what one does’t know; that your current worldview is shaped by what you've learned and are familiar with; and that there's an entire realm of "unknown unknowns" you are not yet aware (is that a triple negative? LOL). I daresay Dickinson could have held her own with Socrates.
Not me, though. (“Not I” for any pedants out there.) The extent of my grasp on philosophy can be summed up with this:
“To be is to do”: Socrates.
“To do is to be”: Sartre
“Do be do be do”: Sinatra
Enough silliness. Let me get back to my earlier statement about the unusual finds I encountered when exploring this poem. What were they?
The first was a translation of the poem into Dutch, HERE. The site seems to include most if not all of Dickinson’s poems – each one in English and in Dutch – with lots of other info too, all of it in Dutch.
The other discovery involves sites which erroneously present the poem as “None can experience STING” – instead of STINT – which then generates confusion for Google’s “AI Overview.”
I’ll revisit both of those items in the coming days. For now –
Have a happy National Candy Corn Day! Or a they say in Dutch, “Fijne Nationale Candy Corn Dag!”
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