One day is there of the series
Termed "Thanksgiving Day"
Celebrated part at table
Part in memory -
Neither Ancestor nor Urchin
I review the Play -
Seems it to my Hooded thinking
Reflex Holiday
Had There been no sharp subtraction
From the early Sum -
Not an acre or a Caption
Where was once a Room
Not a mention whose small Pebble
Wrinkled any Sea,
Unto such, were such Assembly,
'Twere "Thanksgiving day" -
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This one is difficult (at least for me) to comprehend...I even checked it on line and found no commentary, only the poem itself.....and until now, it was unknown in any manner by this mortal....
ReplyDeleteThanks, from confused!!
I must agree with silvereagle! I am flummoxed! Oh for some of that analysis that the guy we know as Closet PROFESSOR usually adds in! ;-)
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Jay
This poem was new for me also, but I love Dickinson. I believe that the series she is speaking of is that of the yearly series of holidays, with thanksgiving being a day of feasting and of memory. However, she also seems to be giving commentary on how we should be thankful everyday, even over small seemingly insignificant things such as the ripple in the water that a pebble makes and for the supreme nature of things such as the sun rising each day. Dickinson was a recluse but she seems to believe that because she does not venture out as much, she can see all of the mundane things that we should be grateful for and should profess those daily and not merely at thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteJoeBlow --- Thanks for your thoughts....the title of the poem threw me off completely...and then the words in their order pulled m down and under!!! Good to have a professor on call!!!
ReplyDeleteAs an admirer of this blog and blogger, a professor in real life, and a published poet (whatever that's worth), I think I understand down to "reflex holiday"--but is that a celebration done automatically, as a reflex? or after thinking, on reflection? After that, it's anybody's guess, I guess. My guess is that she's saying, very "slant," that there would have been a real reason for thanksgiving IF the group had suffered no losses; but, as we know, it had. She's being subversive. At least that's my impression.
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