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Poet: Emily Dickinson (Emily Dickinson Art)
Poem: 49.
I never lost as much but twice
Volume: Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Year: Published/Written in 1955
Poem of the Day:
Nov 2 2004
Comment 15 of 15, added on November 17th, 2009 at 2:13 PM.
Linda,
Good concrete reading of this Dickinson poem. But I think you may be reading "poor" too literally... i.e. financially. One can be poor in spirit, poor in soul, and the "theft," that which was taken away from her (making her "poor," in her metaphor) seemed to be the lives of two loved ones (certainly more than two, in her biography, but two in the poem)-- the latest seeming to be her... father? She descibes herself as a beggar at God's door (a God who gives and takes away)--not the bank's door. But the poem dates from circa 1858, when Emily would have been about 27 or so. Her father died in 1874. So... maybe the Father in the poem is also symbolic. Father as in God, i.e. the "spiritual death" of her faith? Seems too early for that. And it's not clear that the "Father" is the deceased. But maybe this isn't a sad poem at all-- Is she saying that at each "sod" death, angels descended her and "restored her"? But she remains "poor." Perhaps, she's saying, despite these angels, her faith remains "robbed." That is, even though the angels descended, they have not resurrected the dead-- thus she remains "poor," -- without these loved ones. Tricky ending. Anyone have further insights?
Ken from United States
Comment 14 of 15, added on March 8th, 2009 at 12:34 PM.
The sod is the meaning of dirt I also believe..This could have been written later on in her life as she was angered of the lost of maybe a parent and or grandparent.. He financial situation is oobvious changed with the death of whoever it was. She is now worried of her financil matters as she states of the burglar,banker, and father, in which she feels dependent on..Possibly she lost much financially when who ever it was died...She was a lonley woman...Maybe in later life she lost her home or it was taken by bank. She refers to banker as burglar....as if he stole something she believed to be hers....Sad poem..
linda from United States
Comment 13 of 15, added on February 22nd, 2008 at 12:50 AM.
Hassan: Emily uses "sod" in the sense of "soil" or "dirt." In this context, the sod is part of the burial of the dead (she "lost" them in the ground where they were buried).
James from United Kingdom
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Comments
Linda,
Good concrete reading of this Dickinson poem. But I think you may be reading "poor" too literally... i.e. financially. One can be poor in spirit, poor in soul, and the "theft," that which was taken away from her (making her "poor," in her metaphor) seemed to be the lives of two loved ones (certainly more than two, in her biography, but two in the poem)-- the latest seeming to be her... father? She descibes herself as a beggar at God's door (a God who gives and takes away)--not the bank's door. But the poem dates from circa 1858, when Emily would have been about 27 or so. Her father died in 1874. So... maybe the Father in the poem is also symbolic. Father as in God, i.e. the "spiritual death" of her faith? Seems too early for that. And it's not clear that the "Father" is the deceased. But maybe this isn't a sad poem at all-- Is she saying that at each "sod" death, angels descended her and "restored her"? But she remains "poor." Perhaps, she's saying, despite these angels, her faith remains "robbed." That is, even though the angels descended, they have not resurrected the dead-- thus she remains "poor," -- without these loved ones. Tricky ending. Anyone have further insights?
Ken from United States