Recently I’ve been posting poems by Dickinson that use the word “Bobolink,” and another is “”Nature’ is what we see.”
| The first four lines include images of what we see in nature, thereby transforming nature into “Heaven.” The next four lines include the sounds of nature, thereby creating a sense of harmony in the world. The final four lines convey a sense of grace and majesty in nature’s wonders – so simply fulfilled that it transcends our knowledge and renders our wisdom impotent. Oddly enough, as I was exploring this poem, I found not one, not two, but three different YouTube accounts (and maybe there are more?) which seem to focus on the teaching of English as a second language, and all three of them used this poem as an example – my guess because of the simple language and images presented in the poem. If you want to take a look, those sites are HERE, HERE, and HERE. |  |
 | What sights and sounds of nature would you include in such a poem? A butterfly (and/or caterpillar)? A brook? The wind? A waterfall? Lightning? A pinecone? I'll have more on this poem tomorrow. Yesterday I posted Dickinson’s poem “‘Nature’ is what we see.” I’ve posted it again today so that you can see the (subtle) differences between the Johnson and Franklin & Miller editions of her poems and a couple of other words she considered for the poem – the major difference being the final word: “sincerity” (Franklin/Miller) vs. “simplicity” (Johnson). There are other minor differences as well – in capitalization, in separation of stanzas, and in the number of dashes (LOL – this poem has a high dash-to-word ratio: 17 (or 18) to 53). |
Cristanne Miller also includes this comment in her edition of Dickinson’s poetry: This poem “echoes ideas Emerson develops in ‘Nature’ (1863); ED called a book of Emerson’s essays ‘a little Granite Book you can lean upon!’ (L481)”
Emerson’s essay is lengthy – so one day soon I’ll try to find the time to read it; you can find it HERE.
L481, a letter (dated “Christmas 1876”) to Mary Higginson, wife of her mentor Thomas Wentworth Higginson, can be found HERE.
In the letter, Dickinson also states that “the Heart is the ‘seed’ of which we read that ‘the Birds of Heaven lodge in it's Branches.’”
I wondered if that were a quote from Emerson, so I ran a Google search, and it seems, instead, to be a Biblical reference:
“In the Gospel of Matthew the parable is as follows: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”
Hmm…this talk of Emerson reminded me of a poem of his that I read back in my college days – and though the message from the poem stuck with me, some of the specific images and lines did not. I just re-read it, and it’s quite strange! LOL – I’ll share that one tomorrow!
Emerson’s essay is lengthy – so one day soon I’ll try to find the time to read it; you can find it HERE.
L481, a letter (dated “Christmas 1876”) to Mary Higginson, wife of her mentor Thomas Wentworth Higginson, can be found HERE.
In the letter, Dickinson also states that “the Heart is the ‘seed’ of which we read that ‘the Birds of Heaven lodge in it's Branches.’”
I wondered if that were a quote from Emerson, so I ran a Google search, and it seems, instead, to be a Biblical reference:
“In the Gospel of Matthew the parable is as follows: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”
Hmm…this talk of Emerson reminded me of a poem of his that I read back in my college days – and though the message from the poem stuck with me, some of the specific images and lines did not. I just re-read it, and it’s quite strange! LOL – I’ll share that one tomorrow!
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