Sunday, April 28:
On the day after the final installment of that week, I posted Dickinson’s poem “The clouds their backs together laid,” and I included an artwork by contemporary artist Spencer Finch – the post is HERE. Pictured at the right: “Cloud Over Sun Study, 2010" by Spencer Finch At the time of that post, I mentioned that “one of these days” I would devote a week to Dickinson’s poems about clouds. Well, that day (and week) is here: A week of cloud poems! |
I've looked at clouds from both sides now From up and down, and still somehow It's cloud illusions, I recall I really don't know clouds at all However, when I ran the search and found the list of the 18 songs, other lists also popped up – and I saw lists with 20 songs, 21 songs, 22, 30 44, 50-plus, and even 105 songs. LOL. There are a lot of songs about (and with) clouds. I’ll stick with just 18 -- and that list is HERE. |
More on clouds and cloud poetry tomorrow!
Monday, April 29:
The word “cloud” appears in 27 different poems, and today I’m going to feature “A curious cloud surprised the sky”; however, before I get to that “curious cloud,” let me start with a question similar to that enigmatic opening line of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”:
Who was Ebenezer Snell?
Ebenezer Snell was the first student in the first class (1822) to graduate from Amherst College, and he was also the first college graduate to teach at Amherst Academy and the first alumnus to return to the college as a professor. He taught mathematics and natural philosophy.
For many, many years – decades, in fact – Snell would rise to record daily measurements and scientific observations about the day in “The Meteorological Journal Kept at Amherst College.” His daily calculations would include barometric pressure, temperature, winds, “fall of water,” “cloudiness,” and more. Snell’s “cloudiness” scale ran from 1 to 10, with 10 being a cloud covered day.
Every year Snell would add new columns and categories to his tabulations—wet bulb measurements, dry bulb measurements, mean temperature. “Pure Air” was a frequent entry in his logs.
You can read a bit about his weather-related work HERE.
So why this info about Ebenezer Snell and his daily observations?
Well, take a look at Dickinson’s poem, “A curious cloud surprised the sky.” Wow, what a cloud Dickinson saw in the sky that day – and I wonder what day, exactly, she penned this poem. It would be interesting to know the date, and then to check Snell’s notes to see what could have been going on that day to produce such a magnificent cloud. The Johnson edition of “Complete Poems” lists no year for this poem (i.e., date unknown). The Franklin edition lists “1863,” and the Miller edition shows this poem in Fascicle 24 – from 1863. Hmm…1863. What could have been going on in 1863 to produce a cloud of blue and gray? |
What do you think?
Bonus bit:
Looky what I found: the painting on the right by artist Jerzy Werbel is entitled "A Slash of Blue." I suspect that Werbel is familiar with Dickinson and her poem "A slash of Blue -- A sweep of Gray," below. It, too, is a poem about the sky -- with images of blue and gray like "A curious cloud surprised the sky" -- although it doesn't include the word "cloud." A slash of Blue -- A sweep of Gray -- Some scarlet patches on the way, Compose an Evening Sky -- A little purple -- slipped between -- Some Ruby Trowsers hurried on -- A Wave of Gold -- A Bank of Day -- This just makes out the Morning Sky. |
Tuesday, April 30:
This poem was not included by Dickinson in any of her fascicles; instead, it was a stand-alone poem included in a letter to her friend Elizabeth Holland.
Below are copies of the poem as they appear in the various editions of “Complete Poems” – and I’ve also included a few lines from the letter. The complete letter is HERE.
I love the idea presented in this poem – an angry sky presaging inclement weather (LOL – especially in the days before Doppler radar!), and I particularly liked the image of the “narrow wind” complaining all day! Hmm…maybe at some time in the future I’ll present a week-long special of Dickinson poems dedicated to the wind! Oh, I also found today’s poem as a feature on a short (< 6 minutes) podcast called “The Daily Poem." Click HERE, or click the pic at the right. |
Wednesday, May 1:
Very quickly, Dickinson sets the scene of a cloudy and almost starless winter night. Don’t you love that image of the timid star blowing itself out as “often as a Cloud it met”? Of course, the wind has swept the leaves away, and November is “clambered up” in the Eaves. By the fourth stanza you realize a housewife is snuggled up by the fireside, most likely alone – and is she conversing softly with the empty “sofa opposite” Or could the “sofa” be a reference to an inattentive and unobservant husband (a couch potato, LOL) who is totally unaware of the tender moment when she whispers “how pleasanter” is the sleet than a May without him? This poem was written during the Civil War in 1863 – so could she be referencing a housewife whose husband is off fighting in the war? Could there be other interpretations of this poem &/or the final stanzas? |
Thursday, May 2:
This poem is such a casual and coquettish conversation – albeit one side of the conversation – that I can just imagine Dickinson on the phone or texting this with a lover. Line 7 could very well be a Biblical reference – though I am NOT any sort of Bible scholar (or Bible reader, for that matter) – but could it also reference Melville? Hmm...possibly, since “Moby Dick” was published in 1851 and this poem was written in 1863. Anyway, whichever Ishmael is referenced, a length of time has passed since she & her lover have been together (a common theme in Dickinson’s poetry), so she must turn to the moon to see his face. |
In one blog I came across, the writer made this comment: “Judith Farr makes a good case (The Passion of Emily Dickinson) for Ishmael being Samuel Bowles who was, if not Dickinson’s Beloved, at least one her most treasured friends. The poem’s playful tone would be appropriate, and Bowles happened to be out and about in the world during the time this poem was probably written.”
Hmm. Maybe so. I’ve not read “The Passion of Emily Dickinson.” Just FYI, here’s a bit from a blurb about the book: “In a profound new analysis of Dickinson's life and work, Judith Farr explores the desire, suffering, exultation, spiritual rapture, and intense dedication to art that characterize Dickinson's poems, and deciphers their many complex and witty references to texts and paintings of the day.”
However, I’ll just throw this out there: In another poem, “The moon was but a chin of gold,” the commonly accepted “man in the moon” isn’t a man at all. In Dickinson’s poem, the moon is a woman. “The Moon was but a Chin of Gold / A Night or two ago – /And now SHE turns HER perfect Face / Upon the World below –” It makes one wonder just whose face was Dickinson seeing in the moon the night she wrote “You know that Portrait in the Moon.” |