[580] Split the Lark
Not had a Dickinson in a while...
Split the Lark--and you'll find the Music--
Bulb after Bulb, in Silver rolled--
Scantily dealt to the Summer Morning
Saved for your Ear when Lutes be old.
Loose the Flood--you shall find it patent--
Gush after Gush, reserved for you--
Scarlet Experiment! Sceptic Thomas!
Now, do you doubt that your Bird was true?
-- Emily Dickinson
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An exquisite poem, mixing imagery in a way that few other poets would be able
to get away with. Countless poets have attempted to capture the essence of
music in a number of images, but Dickinson's is surely one of the most
beautiful I've seen.
Today's poem seems to be highly allusive, and I'm not sure I've not missed a
reference or two. One obvious allusion in the first verse, for instance, is
to the goose that laid the golden eggs (a reading supported by the use of
'bulb'), but do the next two lines refer to anything? Likewise, the second
verse refers to the New Testament story of Doubting Thomas, who refused to
believe that Jesus had risen 'Except I shall see in his hands the print of
the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand
into his side'. And the Bird (tying rather neatly in with the first verse)
is probably a reference to the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ in the
form of a dove, but if anyone has something stronger to suggest do write in.
Dickinson:
See the comments after 'There's a Certain Slant of Light', poem #92
The above poem presents another of Dickinson's startlingly original
comparisons, incidentally (again involving music, though on the other side
of the equation).
Links:
The story of Doubting Thomas is in John 20:
http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/k/kjv/kjv-idx?type=DIV2&byte=4862513
Here's a discussion of the poem:
http://lal.cs.byu.edu/mlists/emweb/199808/19980816-1.html
The poem has been set to music by Paul Schwartz:
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/d/dickinson/lark.html
-martin
From: Jeff Berndt <thecraichead@>
Wow, I'm just surprised to see an Emily Dickinson poem that can't be sung to
the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas."
I'll be sharing this with friends. ;-)
Thanks for running this day-brightening list!
Jeff Berndt.
From: Todd <Yelrom@>
I would like to offer a reading of this poem, for what it is worth. As is not
unusual with Dickinson's poems, it is puzzling in some ways.
The lark represents the speaker, the poet. The lark's music is the outpouring of
the speaker's heart, or her poetry. She addresses one who, like Thomas, lacks
belief. The allusion to Thomas puts the speaker into a position parallel to that of
Christ. Thomas refused to believe that Christ had risen, that he lived. In the
final line the speaker asks, "Now, do you doubt that your Bird was true?" Her love
and fidelity are as infinite as those of Christ -- of God!
The second line ("Bulb after Bulb, in Silver rolled --") occasioned the discussion to
which Martin gave us a web-link. I believe that the poet is offering here a visual
image of her music. I was reminded of a poem that I read recently in which the poet
offered a whole series of visual equivalents of musical sounds. It was very well
done, but I searched for it this morning and couldn't find it. For me "bulb" is just
a rounded, tapered shape such as a musical note might make. "Silver" is suggestive
of music.
I was also reminded of Emerson's poem "Rubies." These are the first two stanzas:
They brought me rubies from the mine,
And held them to the sun;
I said, they are drops of frozen wine
From Eden's vats that run.
I looked again, -- I thought them hearts
Of friends to friends unknown;
Tides that should warm each neighboring life
Are locked in sparkling stone.
Dickinson frequently speaks of rubies, Eden, wine... Emerson was a an enormously
influential figure in Dickinson's day, a world-famous writer and philosopher who
lived in a nearby town (and who once visited at the Dickinson home).
In lines three and four ("Scantily dealt to the Summer Morning/Saved for your Ear
when Lutes be old...") the poet suggests how vast are the reserves of her love. The
song of the lark, so abundant on a summer morning, is scantily dealt in comparison
with the outpouring she is saving for this other person.
The song of the lark, once truly "loosed," will gush out in a great flood. The word
"flood" recalls Dickinson's comment to someone that immortality was her "flood
subject," i.e., the subject that caused the greatest outpouring of her creative work.
Todd
From: Christine Schroeder <cschroed@>
Actually my reading is somewhat different -
By "split the lark" Dickinson means just that - cut the lark open, and
you will easily find the bits and pieces that make the music (bulb after
bulb...ugh...). She says if you want to dissect something to make
absolutely certain that it is true (the "scarlet experiment" and the
"gush after gush" is the blood of the bird), then you can certainly
verify it...but at what cost? Obviously, once you have proven that the
bird is capable of song (by killing it and splitting it open), it is no
longer capable of it because of what you have done. That's where the
"sceptic Thomas" comes in...she is gently chiding the disbeliever for
not having enough faith to take the beautiful music for the gift that it
is.
From: sandi_ordinario@
I agree with Christine's comment above. Us poets,
would-be poets, obscurantists all, tend to read
too much into poems. I think the doubting Thomas
referred to is someone who is incredulous of the
"songs" of Emily...so she suggests to "open" her
up to see that she is indeed real. The downside of
course is that it will mean the end of her songs
just to convince the skeptic...
Sandi
From: Ethan0807@
I've always thought that this poem was an obvious description of, how should
I put it, defloration. It's about man that doubted his loves "virtue," but
was assuaged of this fear by their first act of lovemaking. She was virginal.
I think once you look at it under this interpretation, it becomes quite
obvious, especially the second verse.
"Patent," by the way, means "exposed" or "spread." (It's an older use of the
word.)