comparing emily dickinson's "I died for beauty-but was scarce" with "There's been a death, in the opposite house." also (criticism)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2022 03:50PM by Desi.

I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
"For beauty," I replied.
"And I for truth, -- the two are one;
We brethren are," he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.

------------------------------


There's been a death in the opposite house
As lately as to-day.
I know it by the numb look
Such houses have alway.

The neighbors rustle in and out,
The doctor drives away.
A window opens like a pod,
Abrupt, mechanically;

Somebody flings a mattress out, --
The children hurry by;
They wonder if It died on that, --
I used to when a boy.

The minister goes stiffly in
As if the house were his,
And he owned all the mourners now,
And little boys besides;

And then the milliner, and the man
Of the appalling trade,
To take the measure of the house.
There'll be that dark parade

Of tassels and of coaches soon;
It's easy as a sign, --
The intuition of the news
In just a country town.


They both use ballad meter (4-3-4-3), stanzas rhyming xbxb, with slant rhymes. They both have death as a theme. In one of them, Emily says she used to be a boy. Why do you suppose she did that?

Because she is a poet in a man's world I suppose, like the Bronte sisters.

Possibly so, but why then did Yeats think he was a woman?


A Last Confession

What lively lad most pleasured me
Of all that with me lay?
I answer that I gave my soul
And loved in misery,
But had great pleasure with a lad
That I loved bodily.

Flinging from his arms I laughed
To think his passion such
He fancied that I gave a soul
Did but our bodies touch,
And laughed upon his breast to think
Beast gave beast as much.

I gave what other women gave
That stepped out of their clothes.
But when this soul, its body off,
Naked to naked goes,
He it has found shall find therein
What none other knows,

And give his own and take his own
And rule in his own right;
And though it loved in misery
Close and cling so tight,
There's not a bird of day that dare
Extinguish that delight.

> Possibly so, but why then did Yeats think he was a woman?

Probably trying to match wits with Oscar Wilde.


Les

Repeat after me- The author is not necessarily the narrator.

pam

When you first read a poem remember as Pam says - that the narrator is not necessarily the poet. But are we sure that the first poem is really a male narrator. I assume you are reading words like brethren and kinsmen to mean the narrator is male. Dickinson may not have meant this at all! Maybe she is being ironic or maybe she is saying that all poets are related? are kin. Maybe she is using words like kinsman and brethren them in their 'universal sense!' the way 'Man' is used to stand for humanity. Remember all language in a patriarchal society is gendered. I find her use of these terms ironical.
Ginnyfly

With Emmy's penchant for strange caps and emdashes, one is often tempted to read different meanings because of such structures. For example, the Beauty one above was actually written as shown below, I believe.


I died for Beauty -- but was scarce

(Hmmm ... she died for beauty, but was scarce. Does that mean she was scarce because she was one of the few who ever died for beauty? If not, shouldn't the word be 'scarcely?)

Adjusted in the Tomb
When One who died for Truth, was lain

(Why in the heck is there a comma after truth?)

In an adjoining room --

He questioned softly "Why I failed"?

(Shouldn't he have questioned why I failed, with no quotes, or "Why you failed?" if there are to be quotes?

"For Beauty", I replied --
"And I -- for Truth -- Themself are One --

(Shouldn't it be themselves? And, for that matter, why does English use myself, yourself, but not hisself and theirselves? Most annoying. )

We Brethren, are", He said --

And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night --
We talked between the Rooms --
Until the Moss had reached our lips --
And covered up -- our names --


What other meanings she could have intended, I can only speculate. Fun to unravel them differently, though.

It most probably should be scarcely, Hugh. And most probably should be on the second line of the poem. Her sense of aesthetics probably made her balance it on the page...


Les

Did ED really write 'Themself' or was it 'the two' (as in the version Hugh first posted)?

scarce/scarcely. An adjective can sometimes be used legitimately as an an adverb, in poetry anyway. There's probably a name for that somewhere in the vast catalogue of figures of speech.

Can't agree that scarce or scarcely should have been in the second line. Would spoil the pattern of every second line being three beats.

Talking of adverbs, 'a Night' is a notable adverbial phrase, instead of the more straightforward 'one night'.

It adds to the mood of otherworld strangeness of the whole poem, generated by vocabulary such as 'adjusted' in the tomb, and 'failed' as a synonym for 'died', and the apparent lack of differentiation between a tomb and a room, and the image of moss growing indoors (even inside a tomb) on the faces of the dead.

I presume the theme of the unity of truth and beauty is derived from the closing lines of Keats' 'Endymion'.

Ian

I believe the correct version is below. Yes, it is ballad meter (common meter), and the feminine ending 'scarcely' would be considered a flaw, since all the other lines are masculine. Poetic license is granted in the adjective for the adverb, I would say. Would Emily have read Keats? Definitely!



I died for Beauty -- but was scarce
Adjusted in the Tomb
When One who died for Truth, was lain
In an adjoining room --

He questioned softly "Why I failed"?
"For Beauty", I replied --
"And I -- for Truth -- Themself are One --
We Brethren, are", He said --

And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night --
We talked between the Rooms --
Until the Moss had reached our lips --
And covered up -- our names --



One would think the other dead person were Christ, except for Emily's penchant for other random capitals. With the capitals on One and He, that is. Could Christ have questioned Emily why He (Christ) failed? Likely not, since she says she is the one who died for beauty and the other corpse perished for truth.