My recent posts have been about a couple of Dickinson’s poems included in the section called “Poems Incomplete or Unfinished” in Millicent Todd Bianchi’s 1945 edition of previously unpublished poetry by Dickinson, “Bolts of Melody.” Today I'll share one of the entries from the book’s section on “Fragments”:
Soul, take thy risks!
With death to be
Were better than
Be not with thee!
Bianchi included this note: “The fragment is written on a scrap of paper measuring less than two by four inches. On the reverse is a touching little pencil sketch of a tombstone among tall grasses.”
Soul, take thy risks!
With death to be
Were better than
Be not with thee!
Bianchi included this note: “The fragment is written on a scrap of paper measuring less than two by four inches. On the reverse is a touching little pencil sketch of a tombstone among tall grasses.”
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So a few things about this:
1. LOL – I thought it was funny that Bianchi characterized the drawing of the tombstone as “touching.”
2. Just FYI: From 1840 until 1855, the Dickinson family lived in a house that overlooked the Amherst cemetery. I wonder if the drawing on the scrap of paper came first? BTW: Johnson has the poem dated as 1869; Franklin dates it to 1867.
3. The handwritten draft appears to be three lines – not four – like this:
Soul, take thy risks,
With Death to be
Were better than be not with thee
(Hmm…is that handwritten word “risk,” “risks,” or “risk’s”?)
4. Even on this tiny scrap of paper, Dickinson included an alternative word choice – “chance” for “risks.”
The Johnson edition has the poem like this, a match to the structure of the handwritten copy:
Soul, take thy risk,
With Death to be
Were better than be not
With thee
Franklin and Miller both published the fragment as a three line poem, and both editors list “risks” an alternative word choice for the singular “risk”:
Soul, take thy risk,
With Death to be
Were better than be not with thee
1. LOL – I thought it was funny that Bianchi characterized the drawing of the tombstone as “touching.”
2. Just FYI: From 1840 until 1855, the Dickinson family lived in a house that overlooked the Amherst cemetery. I wonder if the drawing on the scrap of paper came first? BTW: Johnson has the poem dated as 1869; Franklin dates it to 1867.
3. The handwritten draft appears to be three lines – not four – like this:
Soul, take thy risks,
With Death to be
Were better than be not with thee
(Hmm…is that handwritten word “risk,” “risks,” or “risk’s”?)
4. Even on this tiny scrap of paper, Dickinson included an alternative word choice – “chance” for “risks.”
The Johnson edition has the poem like this, a match to the structure of the handwritten copy:
Soul, take thy risk,
With Death to be
Were better than be not
With thee
Franklin and Miller both published the fragment as a three line poem, and both editors list “risks” an alternative word choice for the singular “risk”:
Soul, take thy risk,
With Death to be
Were better than be not with thee
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