brendan7
03-29-2012, 02:34 PM
Hello all.
In the last few weeks, I have gone through most of Thomas Johnson's "Final Harvest." The theme I held on to the most with Dickinson was her commentary on religion and God, to the backdrop of Romantic idealism, transcendentalism, and nineteenth-century Christianity in America. I think that poem number 217 effectively and uniquely adds to the theme throughout her writing already, in that it adds a conversation (possibly even a prayer of sorts) with the Divine. Most of the other poems that I read were discussing the Divine from a neutral perspective and an impersonal p.o.v. I read the conclusion of the poem as somewhat doubtful of the Divine, opening up a discussion of idealized religion, its consuming effect on the individual(ism), and its unreasonable (idealistic) projections of the nature of a God. I was wondering what all of you thought, and possibly what other poems by Dickinson or other poets you know well that speak within the discussion. I've attached the poem for convenience.
Savior! I’ve no one else to tell –
And so I trouble thee.
I am the one forgot thee so –
Dost thou remember me?
Nor, for myself, I came so far –
That were the little load –
I brought thee the imperial Heart
I had no strength to hold –
The Heart I carried in my own –
Til mine too heavy grew –
Yet – strangest – heavier since it went –
Is it too large for you?
In the last few weeks, I have gone through most of Thomas Johnson's "Final Harvest." The theme I held on to the most with Dickinson was her commentary on religion and God, to the backdrop of Romantic idealism, transcendentalism, and nineteenth-century Christianity in America. I think that poem number 217 effectively and uniquely adds to the theme throughout her writing already, in that it adds a conversation (possibly even a prayer of sorts) with the Divine. Most of the other poems that I read were discussing the Divine from a neutral perspective and an impersonal p.o.v. I read the conclusion of the poem as somewhat doubtful of the Divine, opening up a discussion of idealized religion, its consuming effect on the individual(ism), and its unreasonable (idealistic) projections of the nature of a God. I was wondering what all of you thought, and possibly what other poems by Dickinson or other poets you know well that speak within the discussion. I've attached the poem for convenience.
Savior! I’ve no one else to tell –
And so I trouble thee.
I am the one forgot thee so –
Dost thou remember me?
Nor, for myself, I came so far –
That were the little load –
I brought thee the imperial Heart
I had no strength to hold –
The Heart I carried in my own –
Til mine too heavy grew –
Yet – strangest – heavier since it went –
Is it too large for you?