|
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Poem: 1758.
Where every bird is bold to go
Volume: Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Year: Published/Written in 1955
Comment 1 of 1, added on January 30th, 2008 at 6:52 PM.
“abashless” was not a word in my lexicon, but my knowledge of English word formation let me infer that it meant “not bashful” or “without bashfulness". This caused a momentary pause to wonder what “bash” could be for “bashful” to mean “full of bash.” I later learned from the OED that this bash is formed from abash by loss of the initial a (the process is called aphesis); and that abash means “To destroy the self-possession or confidence of (any one), to put out of countenance, confound, discomfit, or check with a sudden consciousness of shame, presumption, error, or the like”.
However, this still leaves me unsure as to what meaning Emily Dickinson intended to convey. Perhaps it was “When one encounters a place of beauty and tranquility for the first time, one cannot but be overcome by emotion” – and perhaps not. Any thoughts?
Michael Arbib from United States
Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Where every bird is bold to go, has received one comment so far. Click here to read it, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Emily Dickinson with others on the American Poems poetry forum!
|
Comments
“abashless” was not a word in my lexicon, but my knowledge of English word formation let me infer that it meant “not bashful” or “without bashfulness". This caused a momentary pause to wonder what “bash” could be for “bashful” to mean “full of bash.” I later learned from the OED that this bash is formed from abash by loss of the initial a (the process is called aphesis); and that abash means “To destroy the self-possession or confidence of (any one), to put out of countenance, confound, discomfit, or check with a sudden consciousness of shame, presumption, error, or the like”.
However, this still leaves me unsure as to what meaning Emily Dickinson intended to convey. Perhaps it was “When one encounters a place of beauty and tranquility for the first time, one cannot but be overcome by emotion” – and perhaps not. Any thoughts?
Michael Arbib from United States