We know Emily never married but we do have access to some of her old letters so we know she corresponded for sever years with one man. Who can tell what was really going on in her head or heart. Her poems are a small window into her thoughts so that enplanes why they change back and forth so much. In one she is bemoaning the fate of married women then she is sighing over wild nights.
Lets take a look at the whole thing its a short one.
Wild nights - Wild nights!
Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile - the winds -
To a Heart in port -
Done with the Compass -
Done with the Chart!
Rowing in Eden -
Ah - the Sea!
Might I but moor - tonight -
In thee!
Oh what eloquence it just makes me so happy. That is one of the wonderful freeing things about poetry and music you can feel free to express your feelings as they come to you without worrying about how they would be taken when spoken. 'Rowing in Eden' a safe paradise, no more need for charts or compasses she has found her port at last. She is home. But only on the paper. In her room. At night when no one can possibly see or hear her shocking thoughts.
Lol this post made me smile. It is usually the quiet ones that are the most daring behind closed doors. I will admit reading your explanation made me look at the poem differently, it made me see it how you see it, and I liked it more than when I initially read it. I find some of her things hard to read, so I appreciate you putting it into words I could understand. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteReading this poem makes me want to have a Wild Night. I really love the first part of the poem Wild nights wild nights were I with their these wild nights should be our luxury. To me that is saying we should go out and enjoy a night we hardly get to have. Reading this makes me like Dickinson's writing more and more.
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