by Gregg Rowe
Emily of more than
twenty thousand words
who wrote so Heavenly on Death
I curl by my country fireplace
absorb your written words
that Tease my Intelligence
with your Anglo-Germanic
Capitalization
confuses my modern Knowledge
teases me with Bizarre
structures of Enjambment
and after battling wits
of Meaning and Definition
one thing still remains
within my structure of thoughts
I did not stop for Death
because Death came Knocking for me
Author notes
Written March 19th, 2004
In a list
A contest entry
- Allwrite Magazine Poetry Contest (adults 20 and over) May, Prewrites Accepted by Runawaytrain.
300 points, ended May 8, 2005, 7 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Ain't I A Woman by Nicole Hanna.
600 points, ended December 11, 2006, 19 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 17 of 17
-
Far too short. All that lovely language should've gone on much longer It was beautiful.
-
This is a lovely tribute to Emily. I love the capitalization thing. The last lines are a nice touch. Awesome job! (as usual)
~Tawnya~ -
Hi Babybird: Thank you for stopping by and critiquing this poem for me. I am in need to disagree with you on your points that you have outlined in your critique as faults, but which are actually strengths of the poem. There is absolutely no dispute that Dickinson was a genius with the language and her poetic techniques, but I do feel that the words that I have chosen to capitalize in my poem are just as important as the ones that she choose to capitalize In her poems.
Dickenson capitalized mostly Anglo-Germanic words for emphasizes and clues into her solitude of life that she had created for herself while living with a chronic illness that would eventually claim her life at a young age. Most of the vocabulary were abstract words (most of them were spiritual and celestial words that by capitalizing them, I feel, gave them substance and a new meaning by making a connection with her reading audience).
By capitalizing these words, it opened up a field of intellectual debates on meaning and knowledge of what she wrote. It also teased people’s intelligence hoping to discover the hidden meanings behind her words
"within my structure of thoughts": This struck me as awkward. It feels like you are giving me an incomplete image. My point in this line is that her style of writing in her time and in our time is a confusion on our structure of thoughts as we are taught about writing and reading. Thoughts are only structured through what we have gained through knowledge and her style of writing was unravelling this structure of thoughts that had been taught.
The words Bizarre and Enjambment are intentional here for the whole poem is on the surface discussing the poetic techniques and genius of Emily Dickinson so if they threw you off while reading it then you have read my poem correctly because that was exactly my intention when I wrote it. As far as the word "Enjambment" is thrown in without connecting to my poem, I feel that this is an interpretation that was not thought out before you wrote it—read any Dickinson and you will find her enjambment is her major success in reading her works—no matter how bizarre she had used this technique in her poems—most of her enjambment was used so that she could retain her meters within her lines of three-feet and four-feet count that she used so much for her funeral cadences in her Time and Serenity poems.
Intertextuality in poetry is an art, perhaps to some I have not achieved it in this poem, but I will argue on that point also. Poetry is to be expressed by the writier usually through experiences that they have encountered. At the time of this writing I was facing death and reading Emily helped me through my trials and tribulations and saved my sanity. I also know, that I cannot write for everyone to please them through my art, my writing is for me first and to be shared later. To take one poem and critique it without divulging in the writer’s history through either their bibliographical page or other example’s of their work is being closed minded in a way—there are always circumstances that were reasons for a piece of writing to be penned. Some are simplistic to understand, while others need to be researched and examined before a critique can be written. (Dates, experiences, and surrounding texts by the same author gives clues to the intertextuality of the poem on a whole, and believe me—this poem of Emily is not one of those that can just be read on the surface).
Gregg
Edited on May 05, 6:38 because ''. -
Hi Mickie: Sorry it has taken me forever to respond to this on my contest poem, thank you for leaving me your critique on Emily, I really appreciate all comments and opinions on how my writing affects other readers. I think though there is a need to respond to some of the information you have relayed to me in your message. The contest was to speak to an author, which I felt I have done just that in the poem. My capitalization of words in my poem are just as much opened to interpretation as the same capitalization questioning applies to Dickinson. Why did she choose some words over others and why when she had capitalized a certain word in one poem, a few lines down the same word is not capitalized? She was in favour of giving more --umph to her poetry by capitalizing more Anglo-Germanic words than any other language derived vocabulary. So why would I capitalize my chosen words? At the time of the writing I was studying Dickinson (I Heard A Fly Buzz When I Died—), Conrad (Heart of Darkness) and Poe (The Fall of the House of Usher) in University while undergoing an open heart surgery procedure. All authors works that I was studying at that time had to deal with immortality and death as the subject. The ideology I had behind some words being capitalized was the words that appeared most often in her critiques essays that were written about her: Knowledge, Bizarre, Tease, Intelligence, were common adjectives in critiquing her poems that I cam across while preparing my essay on her; Meaning, Definition, and Enjambment were the next common words crossed in trying to define the poetic canon of her works and Heavenly and Death was my connection to her work as I was reading her. While everyone is entitled to interpreting poetry from their experience, at the time of writing this poem on Emily, I was experiencing some personal epiphanies in my life that made her works more profound for me and found some celestial answers for myself through her writings in order to come through my ordeal; this is my personal response to her through her writings.
Gregg
Edited on May 05, 6:08 because ''. -
I agree with Mickie...I see that you are emulating Dickinson's tendency to capitalize much of her work. But, remember that Dickinson was a genius. So, only use the capitalization if you feel it really enhances your work.
"within my structure of thoughts"
This struck me as awkward. It feels like you are giving me an incomplete image.
"who wrote so Heavenly on Death"
Perhaps the wrong preposition is used here? It sounds somehow off.
The word "Enjambment" also feels thrown in there, without connecting to your poem.
I think you can revise and make this better. Good luck and feel free to contact me with any questions. -
The capitalization did not really work for me. There were times when I felt that you could have used capitalization and you didn't. Personally if I were going for the capitalization approach I would ensure that it worked with what I was trying to say. I think you have something to work on here and it would be good if you worked more on this. "I curl by my country fireplace" this line stood out to me as one line that you could work on the capitalization more. I just would have thought that country would be Country. I don't know perhaps you have your own reasons for writing it this way. Whatever they are they did not come over to me I am afraid. otherwise you do have a very well written poem that just needs work on.
-
Thanks for entering this fine poem about Emily and her quirky but lovable poems.
Best wishes,
Moses -
To talk about her poetry in such a familiar way makes me think your have read her carefully. To talk about her life in her words suggests you are a fan. Well imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and you have copied her thoughts and ideals in this and you have copied them very well indeed. Good luck in the contest.
-
This is a pretty cool piece you have here. I like it. I think you did a wonderful job with it. Keep up the great work and thank you for sharing
-
Oh no. . .no comment/reply necessary. I was just being rhetorical.
-
Always nice to pay homage to the greats, and in your case, include a message.
Jaden: I am still perplexed by this line: did you want me to comment on why I wrote the poem to Emily, the birthof the poem, or my journey to get it on paper? Or is it, that you are allowed to leave comments on the bio poems? Hmm...don't worry...I'm very ambivalent also in my writings
-
I like this one. Reminds me of a Billy Collins poem "Undressing Emily Dickinson." I like writing about poets also. Some of my favorites include Nakim Hizmit (the famous Turkish poet) and Rabindranath Tagore of India (which I wrote poems under biography collections).
Always nice to pay homage to the greats, and in your case, include a message. -
I loved this. Perhaps, I'm the only one who sees the irony. In any event, keep up the well done work. I'll be checking back. Thank you!
-
This is good. A ton of big words I had to get my dictinary but hey after I fully understood it i loved it.
Haley -
I'm studying the poem by Emily you took the idea from at school lately, & I find your words on it interesting.
-
Interesting.... I really like the capitalization,
gives those words some "umph" as I call it. The whole
poem kept my attention.. I could not stop reading it.
I even read it twice.. But the lines that had the strongest
power to me, and stood out far beyond the rest...
"I did not stop for Death
because Death came Knocking for me"
That is quite an accomplishment... most, when Death came
knocking, would let him in openly. Most would lay down
for him, let him take over. But you seem stronger than that,
and your words speak that truth. Many blessings to you in
your fight... may you continue to be as strong!
I enjoyed the write, thank you for posting it here
~Aimee
-
mmmm
mm. i liked your meaningful, interpretive, creative capitalization, i felt like that added a lot to this poem. nice job.
ex oh pseudofemme
Adding your comment:
1 - 17 of 17
2 old applause
