Yesterday’s post included two “fragments” written by Dickinson from Millicent Todd Bianchi’s 1945 edition of the poet’s previously unpublished works, “Bolts of Melody”:
Society for me my misery
Since gift of thee.
**AND**
Or fame erect her siteless citadel.
Both of these lines appear on an envelope flap, and in his research in the late 1990s, editor R. W. Franklin noted that the second line is related to Dickinson’s poem “Step lightly on this narrow spot.”
Society for me my misery
Since gift of thee.
**AND**
Or fame erect her siteless citadel.
Both of these lines appear on an envelope flap, and in his research in the late 1990s, editor R. W. Franklin noted that the second line is related to Dickinson’s poem “Step lightly on this narrow spot.”
 | If I understand all of Franklin’s comments, then Dickinson sent an early variant of the first stanza to Susan Dickinson, and it read as follows: Step lightly on this narrow spot – The broadest Land that grows Is not so ample as the Heart These Emerald seams enclose – Also, a version of the final lines was written on that envelope flap – so that the second stanza would read like this: Step lofty, for this name be told As far as Cannon dwell Or Flag subsist of Fame erect Her siteless citadel. However, at some point in time, Dickinson changed the word “Heart” at the end of line 3 to “Breast,” and she altered the final lines to read “Or Flag subsist or Fame export / Her deathless Syllable” – and this new version was sent in a letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson. |
| In the comment section of her edition of Dickinson’s poems, Cristanne Miller stated, “In January 1871, a statue of Abraham Lincoln by Vinnie Ream was unveiled in Washington, D.C. In September 1871, Lincoln’s remains were moved to a monument in Springfield, Illinois, and another statue (by Randolph Rogers) was dedicated in Philadelphia. ED knew that TWH would be aware of these events, as a former colonel in the Union army.” BTW: Ream’s statue of Lincoln is in the rotunda of the US Capitol (Hmm…I wonder if the treasonous MAGAts who stormed the Capitol on behalf of Imperial Grand Wizard Trump desecrated it?). |  |  |
So is “Step lightly on this narrow spot” about Abraham Lincoln?
It sure seems that way because the speaker is standing above a burial site (which “Emerald Seams enclose” – WOW! Talk about a stunning image) and the grave is for someone larger than life: “The broadest Land that grows / Is not so ample” as the one laid to rest; plus, the name of the dearly departed will be told “As far as Cannon dwell / Or Flag subsist.”
What do you make of this poem? What stands out to you?
It sure seems that way because the speaker is standing above a burial site (which “Emerald Seams enclose” – WOW! Talk about a stunning image) and the grave is for someone larger than life: “The broadest Land that grows / Is not so ample” as the one laid to rest; plus, the name of the dearly departed will be told “As far as Cannon dwell / Or Flag subsist.”
What do you make of this poem? What stands out to you?
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