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The Pierless Bridge: Emily Dickinson's Poems of Faith and Doubt

Bruce Clary
Bruce Clary

This document provides a summary of a presentation given by Bruce Clary on Emily Dickinson's poems of faith and doubt. The summary includes Clary's background and credentials, objectives for the presentation which were to reacquaint the audience with Dickinson and explore some of her poems. It also provides some context about Dickinson's unconventional writing style and how she wrote primarily for herself using traditional forms but without titles and with variants and scrambled syntax. Several of Dickinson's poems are also summarized.

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The Pierless Bridge Emily Dickinsons Poems of Faith and Doubt First Fridays 展 3 May 2013 Bruce Clary, McPherson College, McPherson, Kansas
Hello. I am Bruce Clary. Associate Professor of English McPherson College Among other courses, I teach American Literature Dickinson was the subject of my doctoral dissertation.
And this is Emily Dickinson.
And this is Emily Dickinson.
And this is Emily Dickinson.
Todays Objectives Get reacquainted with Dickinson Explore some poems Experience the power of her language
Quiz time! What do you already know about Emily Dickinson?
1. Get out your phones. Silence them.
1. Get out your phones. Silence them. 2. Create a new text message.
1. Get out your phones. Silence them. 2. Create a new text message. 3. Do not hit Send until you are told.
1. Get out your phones. Silence them. 2. Create a new text message. 3. Do not hit Send until you are told. 4. Enter 666509 into the body of your message.
1859: Darwin
The Fascicles
1st Congregational Church of Amherst Built in 1868, Dickinson sneaked out of her house at night to view the new church. This was possibly the last time she left the grounds of the family home until her death in 1885.
How Dickinson wrote. How Dickinson Wrote
How Dickinson wrote. How Dickinson Wrote Traditional forms No titles Variants sometimes lots of them
How Dickinson wrote. Unconventional conventions Extreme compression Garbled grammar Scrambled syntax
How Dickinson wrote. Why ED wrote this way She wrote for herself maybe Reader becomes co-creator Make language new
On subjects of which we know nothing, or should I say Beings, we both believe, and disbelieve a hundred times an Hour, which keeps Believing nimble. 1882 letter to Otis Phillips Lord
Those dying then, Knew where they went They went to Gods Right Hand That Hand is amputated now And God cannot be found The abdication of Belief Makes the Behavior small Better an ignis fatuus Than no illume at all
Faith is the Pierless Bridge Supporting what We see Unto the Scene that We do not Too slender for the eye It bears the Soul as bold As it were rocked in Steel With arms of steel at either side It joins behind the Vail To what, could We presume The Bridge would cease to be To our far, vacillating Feet A first Necessity.
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church I keep it, staying at Home With Bobolink for a Chorister And an Orchard, for a Dome Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice I just wear my Wings And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church, Our little Sexton sings. God preaches, a noted Clergyman And the sermon is never long, So instead of getting to Heaven, at last I'm going, all along.
This World is not Conclusion. A Species stands beyond Invisible, as Music But positive, as Sound It beckons, and it baffles Philosophy don't know And through a Riddle, at the last Sagacity, must go To guess it, puzzles scholars To gain it, Men have borne Contempt of Generations And Crucifixion, shown
Faith slips and laughs, and rallies Blushes, if any see Plucks at a twig of Evidence And asks a Vane, the way Much Gesture, from the Pulpit Strong Hallelujahs roll Narcotics cannot still the Tooth That nibbles at the soul
Of God we ask one favor, That we may be forgiven For what, he is presumed to know The Crime, from us, is hidden Immured the whole of Life Within a magic Prison We reprimand the Happiness That too competes with Heaven.
I know that He exists. Somewhere in Silence He has hid his rare life From our gross eyes. 'Tis an instant's play. 'Tis a fond Ambush Just to make Bliss Earn her own surprise!
But should the play Prove piercing earnest Should the glee glaze In Death's stiff stare Would not the fun Look too expensive! Would not the jest Have crawled too far
Faith is a fine invention When gentlemen can see But Microscopes are prudent In an Emergency.
The Brain is wider than the Sky For put them side by side The one the other will contain With ease and You beside The Brain is deeper than the sea For hold them Blue to Blue The one the other will absorb As Sponges Buckets do The Brain is just the weight of God For Heft them Pound for Pound And they will differ if they do As Syllable from Sound
bwc

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The Pierless Bridge: Emily Dickinson's Poems of Faith and Doubt

  • 1. The Pierless Bridge Emily Dickinsons Poems of Faith and Doubt First Fridays 展 3 May 2013 Bruce Clary, McPherson College, McPherson, Kansas
  • 2. Hello. I am Bruce Clary. Associate Professor of English McPherson College Among other courses, I teach American Literature Dickinson was the subject of my doctoral dissertation.
  • 6. Todays Objectives Get reacquainted with Dickinson Explore some poems Experience the power of her language
  • 7. Quiz time! What do you already know about Emily Dickinson?
  • 8. 1. Get out your phones. Silence them.
  • 9. 1. Get out your phones. Silence them. 2. Create a new text message.
  • 10. 1. Get out your phones. Silence them. 2. Create a new text message. 3. Do not hit Send until you are told.
  • 11. 1. Get out your phones. Silence them. 2. Create a new text message. 3. Do not hit Send until you are told. 4. Enter 666509 into the body of your message.
  • 14. 1st Congregational Church of Amherst Built in 1868, Dickinson sneaked out of her house at night to view the new church. This was possibly the last time she left the grounds of the family home until her death in 1885.
  • 15. How Dickinson wrote. How Dickinson Wrote
  • 16. How Dickinson wrote. How Dickinson Wrote Traditional forms No titles Variants sometimes lots of them
  • 17. How Dickinson wrote. Unconventional conventions Extreme compression Garbled grammar Scrambled syntax
  • 18. How Dickinson wrote. Why ED wrote this way She wrote for herself maybe Reader becomes co-creator Make language new
  • 19. On subjects of which we know nothing, or should I say Beings, we both believe, and disbelieve a hundred times an Hour, which keeps Believing nimble. 1882 letter to Otis Phillips Lord
  • 20. Those dying then, Knew where they went They went to Gods Right Hand That Hand is amputated now And God cannot be found The abdication of Belief Makes the Behavior small Better an ignis fatuus Than no illume at all
  • 21. Faith is the Pierless Bridge Supporting what We see Unto the Scene that We do not Too slender for the eye It bears the Soul as bold As it were rocked in Steel With arms of steel at either side It joins behind the Vail To what, could We presume The Bridge would cease to be To our far, vacillating Feet A first Necessity.
  • 22. Some keep the Sabbath going to Church I keep it, staying at Home With Bobolink for a Chorister And an Orchard, for a Dome Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice I just wear my Wings And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church, Our little Sexton sings. God preaches, a noted Clergyman And the sermon is never long, So instead of getting to Heaven, at last I'm going, all along.
  • 23. This World is not Conclusion. A Species stands beyond Invisible, as Music But positive, as Sound It beckons, and it baffles Philosophy don't know And through a Riddle, at the last Sagacity, must go To guess it, puzzles scholars To gain it, Men have borne Contempt of Generations And Crucifixion, shown
  • 24. Faith slips and laughs, and rallies Blushes, if any see Plucks at a twig of Evidence And asks a Vane, the way Much Gesture, from the Pulpit Strong Hallelujahs roll Narcotics cannot still the Tooth That nibbles at the soul
  • 25. Of God we ask one favor, That we may be forgiven For what, he is presumed to know The Crime, from us, is hidden Immured the whole of Life Within a magic Prison We reprimand the Happiness That too competes with Heaven.
  • 26. I know that He exists. Somewhere in Silence He has hid his rare life From our gross eyes. 'Tis an instant's play. 'Tis a fond Ambush Just to make Bliss Earn her own surprise!
  • 27. But should the play Prove piercing earnest Should the glee glaze In Death's stiff stare Would not the fun Look too expensive! Would not the jest Have crawled too far
  • 28. Faith is a fine invention When gentlemen can see But Microscopes are prudent In an Emergency.
  • 29. The Brain is wider than the Sky For put them side by side The one the other will contain With ease and You beside The Brain is deeper than the sea For hold them Blue to Blue The one the other will absorb As Sponges Buckets do The Brain is just the weight of God For Heft them Pound for Pound And they will differ if they do As Syllable from Sound
  • 30. bwc