Poem-A-Day/April 10
(Johnson 199)
I'm "wife" — I've finished that —
That other state —
I'm Czar — I'm "Woman" now —
It's safer so —
How odd the Girl's life looks
Behind this soft Eclipse —
I think that Earth feels so
To folks in Heaven — now —
This being comfort — then
That other kind — was pain —
But why compare?
I'm "Wife"! Stop there!
**
I read this amazing poem almost as a dramatic monologue--i.e. a speech by an imputed "character" not revealed as such. Why? Because it speaks not of some spiritual occult equivalent of being a wife--some Emily Dickinson version of a marriage, the role self-conferred--but of the actual dismal state Dickinson saw women choosing over the "odd" life of a "Girl"--
The speaker of the poem keeps repeating the cultural scripts about "wife"-ness, but choking upon her words. "This being comfort--then" (according to logic) "That other kind--was pain--" Except we know from everything ED wrote that "girlhood" was NOT pain--it was a state of such admirable and envious freedom that she sometimes calls it her "boyhood" (given the patriarchy, the version of childhood with the most freedom built into the concept...)
I love how she finally has to stop--the logic is too absurd--by saying "Stop there!"
(Johnson 199)
I'm "wife" — I've finished that —
That other state —
I'm Czar — I'm "Woman" now —
It's safer so —
How odd the Girl's life looks
Behind this soft Eclipse —
I think that Earth feels so
To folks in Heaven — now —
This being comfort — then
That other kind — was pain —
But why compare?
I'm "Wife"! Stop there!
**
I read this amazing poem almost as a dramatic monologue--i.e. a speech by an imputed "character" not revealed as such. Why? Because it speaks not of some spiritual occult equivalent of being a wife--some Emily Dickinson version of a marriage, the role self-conferred--but of the actual dismal state Dickinson saw women choosing over the "odd" life of a "Girl"--
The speaker of the poem keeps repeating the cultural scripts about "wife"-ness, but choking upon her words. "This being comfort--then" (according to logic) "That other kind--was pain--" Except we know from everything ED wrote that "girlhood" was NOT pain--it was a state of such admirable and envious freedom that she sometimes calls it her "boyhood" (given the patriarchy, the version of childhood with the most freedom built into the concept...)
I love how she finally has to stop--the logic is too absurd--by saying "Stop there!"
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