Some say goodnight - at night ... little help, please?

[abzj123]

Hello All,
This is my first post, I'm new and I need a hand
I don't understand...

I've always been intrigued by E.D. her life and work
and PERPLEXED by poems like this one:

Some say goodnight -at night-
I say goodnight by day-
Good-bye- the Going utter me-
Goodnight, I stilll reply
For parting, that is night,
And presence, simply dawn-
Itself, the purple on the height
Denominated morn

What is this poem about?

I have a sense that this poem is about the feelings
of
BEING WITH (presence) "morn" "purple on the height"
and
SAYING BYE (parting) "night"

But I'm still not sure...
What does "Itself" refer to?
What is the meaning of
"For parting, that is night,
And presence, simply dawn-"?

Thanks in advance,
Jay

[ktd222]

Hope I can help, abzj123.

Funny you focused on the word “Itself.” I think “Itself” is “the purple on the height” that we see at morning time. Throughout the poem this other person was never mentioned. We just get the “presence”…and that is “simply dawn.” She uses the gestures for leaving, and our notion of what time those gestures were used, and rearranges it to fit her own mood, which is expressed through the environment. For us, “goodnight” is a gesture we use when leaving someone at night. For her, “goodnight” mind as well be a gesture used during the daytime, which then takes our notion of nighttime and cast it over her daytime, so that her daytime is like our nighttime (hope I didn’t lose you there). Then the gesture moves from “goodnight” to “good-bye,” in which case she responds the same way by saying “goodnight.” So for her any gesture of leaving is like when we use the gesture “goodnight.”

I’d like to add that this is a very sad poem because it suggested Dickinson never experienced the daytime, that her day to day life is filled with only nighttime and dawntime, and that what designated “morn” was the “Itself, the purple on the height”—not her.

[abzj123]

Thank you KTD
Your reply was helpful
as I read the poem again I got to thinking about the word
"presence"
Do you think that word is there as a stark juxtaposition to "parting"?

presence parallels dawn
parting - night
?

What does "presence" have to do with all this about
Goodnight at night or by day
goodbye / parting is night....

Some say goodnight -at night-
I say goodnight by day-
Good-bye- the Going utter me-
Goodnight, I stilll reply
For parting, that is night,
And presence, simply dawn-
Itself, the purple on the height
Denominated morn

Thanks again for your time and insight...
Jay

[ktd222]

You're welcome, abzj123.

Well what is stark about the word “presence” is its association with “dawn”. I would expect if “parting” is associated with “night”, then a word like “coming” should be connected with “day.” But she doesn’t do this. What she does instead is go beyond the connotations of a word like “coming” to “presence,” while pulling back the word’s importance by associating it with “simply dawn.” So the word association we get is “good-bye” is like saying “goodnight at night” when “parting” occurs. While, not even “hello,” but the “presence” is only associated with “dawn.” This revelation is what surprised me.

[abzj123]

Thanks again 222
I had similar thoughts about "coming" and "hello"
E.D. sets the scene for expected connections
develops a clear parallel on one side, and then surprises
(and perplexes) with a related "tangent" on the other...

Have a good day
Jay