Question: This is a sad poem right? Did the guy leave her?
You love me == You are sure
Emily Dickinson
You love me -- you are sure --
I shall not fear mistake --
I shall not cheated wake --
Some grinning morn --
To find the Sunrise left --
And Orchards -- unbereft --
And Dollie -- gone!
I need not start -- you're sure --
That night will never be --
When frightened -- home to Thee I run --
To find the windows dark --
And no more Dollie -- mark --
Quite none?
Be sure you're sure -- you know --
I'll bear it better now --
If you'll just tell me so --
Than when -- a little dull Balm grown --
Over this pain of mine --
You sting -- again!
Not exactly - he had a fling with Dollie, then came back and asked forgiveness and the poem is written then - she doesn't know if she can trust him, and thinks if not, better part now than be hurt again, next time.
Good question. And what kind of rhyme scheme and meter is being used? Three six-line stanzas, sure, but most odd, even for the Em. I would think we need to find out who Dollie is/was. More on him/her/it:
I often passed the village
When going home from school --
And wondered what they did there --
And why it was so still --
I did not know the year then --
In which my call would come --
Earlier, by the Dial,
Than the rest have gone.
It's stiller than the sundown.
It's cooler than the dawn --
The Daisies dare to come here --
And birds can flutter down --
So when you are tired --
Or perplexed -- or cold --
Trust the loving promise
Underneath the mould,
Cry "it's I," "take Dollie,"
And I will enfold!
Dying! Dying in the night!
Won't somebody bring the light
So I can see which way to go
Into the everlasting snow?
And "Jesus"! Where is Jesus gone?
They said that Jesus -- always came --
Perhaps he doesn't know the House --
This way, Jesus, Let him pass!
Somebody run to the great gate
And see if Dollie's coming! Wait!
I hear her feet upon the stair!
Death won't hurt -- now Dollie's here!
Right, Dollie is Susan Dickinson, a neighbor and the wife of Austin Dickinson, Emily's brother. Many have claimed a lesbian relationship existed (with Emmy as the top, mooring in her during their wild nights), but there is no proof that I have seen.
not that there's anything wrong with that
Ahem, sounds adulterous at the very least. No wonder she was always wondering about going to heaven. Still, all that, although interesting, is no help in interpreting the pome.
You love me -- you are sure --
I shall not fear mistake --
I shall not cheated wake --
(Bzzt! Inversion alert.)
Some grinning morn --
To find the Sunrise left --
And Orchards -- unbereft --
(Unbereft? Not unhappy or sorrowful?)
And Dollie -- gone!
(Ok, so far- you say you love me and will never leave me? Mostly iambic trimeter with a couple of dimeter lines. Rhyming abbcddc? Seven lines, not six, sorry.)
I need not start -- you're sure --
(Start - sudden involuntary movement, in fear?)
That night will never be --
When frightened -- home to Thee I run --
To find the windows dark --
And no more Dollie -- mark --
Quite none?
(Confusing, but "You say I need not fear I will return home and find you gone"? Rhymes now abcddc in a six-line stanza, four trimeter, one tetrameter and one dimeter.)
Be sure you're sure -- you know --
I'll bear it better now --
If you'll just tell me so --
Than when -- a little dull Balm grown --
Over this pain of mine --
You sting -- again!
(Same meter as previous stanza, Slant rhymes now, aaaccc. Again obscure, but seems to be adminishing Dollie for a sting recently delivered. So - another angst poem, berating Dollie for saying she loves Emily, but does not always show it in her actions.)
Any physical relationship, imagined or not, shouldn't really have any bearing on the emotions set forth.
And Orchards -- unbereft --
I don't get this.
Post Edited (06-11-04 01:35)
Me neither. I might speculate that Dollie was always lamenting the state of her/their (dying) orchards, but even that is a stretch.
Well, 'bereft' means loss. It sounds like she's saying I'll wake up and the fruit will be back on the trees.
pam