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 Poetry
by Emily Dickinson,
S.
Doikas (tr), L.
Melani (com/ies) |
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The Heart Asks Pleasure First | Parting |
Compensation |
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The heart asks pleasure
first
The heart asks pleasure first,
And then, excuse from pain;
And then, those little anodynes
That deaden suffering,
And then, to go to sleep;
And then, if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor,
The liberty to die.
The heart asks pleasure first,
And then, excuse from pain;
And then, those little anodynes
That deaden suffering,
And then, to go to sleep;
And then, if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor,
The liberty to die.
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Τη
χαρά πρώτα ζητά η καρδιά (1η
μετ. - ελεύθερη)
Τη χαρά πρώτα ζητά η καρδιά
Μετά τη θλίψη ν' αποφεύγει
Κι έπειτα εκείνα τα μικρά παυσίπονα
Που ξεγελούν τον πόνο.
Ύστερα, να πάει να κοιμηθεί
Και τελικά, αν είναι δυνατόν,
Το θέλημα τ' Αφέντη της
Την άδεια να πεθάνει.
Την ηδονή πρώτα ζητά η καρδιά (2η
μετ. - πιστή)
Και μετά την οδύνη ν' αποφεύγει
Και μετά εκείνα τα μικρά παυσίπονα
που εξασθενούν τον πόνο.
Και μετά, να πάει να κοιμηθεί
Και μετά, αν είναι δυνατόν,
Το θέλημα του ιεροεξεταστή της
Την ελευθερία να πεθάνει.
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COMMENTARY for
Emily Dickinson's poem THE HEART ASKS
PLEASURE FIRST
by Lilia Melani
The only known photograph
of Emily Dickinson |
That the heart "asks"
indicates its lower or dependent status; another
has the power to grant the request. Listing pleasure
as the first request might suggest that it is
the most important one. But does the rest of the
poem support this assumption? The number of lines
devoted to suffering overwhelm the one line devoted
to pleasure. Similarly, the degree of suffering
implied by the increasingly desperate requests
for relief from pain minimizes the importance
of pleasure. The last line of stanza one, with
its request to "deaden" suffering, anticipates
or foreshadows the final request for literal death.
(An anodyne is anything that relieves or lessens
pain.)
It is God who has the power to grant relief from
pain. The implication is that He has the power
to inflict it also. This implication is made explicit
with her calling God "Inquisitor." Historically,
the Inquisition was established by the Roman Catholic
Church in the thirteenth century to search out
and punish heretics. It came to be associated,
particularly in Protestant countries, as a cruel,
unjust institution which tortured innocent victims
and even burned them at the stake. In using the
term "Inquisitor," is Dickinson judging
God guilty of inflicting pain upon humanity? Listing
the requests for relief ("And then...And
then...And then...And then") has a cumulative
effect, emphasizing the pain and God's culpability.
The use of the word "will" for God makes
him totally responsible for humanity's continuing
to suffer because He chooses to withhold death.
The final irony is the phrasing
of the request to die--"the liberty to die."
"Liberty" has powerful connotations
for Americans, all favorable. It opens up vistas
of freedom; however, in this poem liberty is the
freedom to die to escape pain. By using "liberty,"
is Dickinson suggesting that this is a human right?
God has the power to allow liberty or to deny
it. That God may deny this liberty and that the
heart must request liberty further portray God
as an oppressor.
Is this poem in part at least an
indictment of God for inflicting misery on humanity?
There is an alternate reading that
you might prefer. The alternate reading may be
combined with the indictment of God or may replace
that reading. The poem can be seen as tracing
our progress through life. The child wants pleasure.
As we grow older, we experience pain, which increases
with age. At first we want not to feel pain; then
we realize pain is inevitable and ask for relief
from pain. The kind of relief we ask for becomes
greater as the pain increases until finally the
only escape from pain is death.
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Parting
My life closed twice before its close;
It
yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A
third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As
these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And
all we need of hell.
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Χωρισμός
Δύο φορές τέλειωσε η ζωή μου, προτού τελειώσει,
Μένει ακόμη να φανεί
Εάν η Αθανασία μου αποκαλύψει
Ένα τρίτο γεγονός
Τόσο μεγάλο, τόσο δύσκολο να το συλλάβει κανείς
Όσο αυτά που ήδη έτυχαν δύο φορές
Ο χωρισμός είναι όλα όσα ξέρουμε για τον παράδεισο,
Και όλα όσα χρειαζόμαστε από την κόλαση. |
COMMENTARY
for Emily Dickinson's poem PARTING
by Lilia Melani
The speaker uses the metaphor of death to
describe the torment two cataclysmic events
inflicted. What these two events are we don't
know, and I think there is little to be gained
in trying to read the poem biographically;
for example, is she referring to the deaths
of two people? and if so, to whom? was she
in love? were her feelings reciprocated?
What matters is that the
pain of these events was so sharp that she
feels as if her life ended. Despite her
feeling, she is, of course, still physically
alive, so that she can experience more than
one loss and the pain of that loss. Obviously,
"its close" at the end of line
1 refers to her literal death.
Dickinson uses metaphors
of vision ("see" and "unveil")
for revelation. What happens after death,
in immortality? She compares what might
be revealed to the pain she suffered twice
before.
The last two lines
of this poem present a powerful paradox;
parting is both heaven and hell. We part
with those who die and--hopefully--go to
heaven, which is, ironically, an eternal
happiness for them; however, we who are
left behind suffer the pain (hell) of their
deaths (parting). Is there any comfort in
this poem? What is the one thing we "know"
about heaven? Is heaven, for living human
beings, connected to hell? A personal note:
these lines chill me every time I read them,
and they stay with me afterward.
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Compensation
For each ecstatic instant
We must an anguish pay
In keen and quivering ratio
To the ecstasy.
For each beloved hour
Sharp pittances of years,
Bitter contested farthings
And coffers heaped with tears.
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Αντιστάθμιση
Κάθε εκστατική στιγμή
Πρέπει να την πληρώσουμε με οδύνη
Σε αναλογία οξεία και τρεμάμενη
Με την έκσταση.
Για κάθε ώρα λατρευτή
Χρόνια ζωής με πενταροδεκάρες
Με πικρό αγώνα αποκτημένες
Και σεντούκια γεμάτα δάκρυα.
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COMMENTARY
for Emily Dickinson's poem COMPENSATION
by Lilia Melani
Dickinson makes two main points about the
relationship of joy and pain in this poem.
(1) Joy and pain are inextricably related;
joy is inevitably followed or paid for by
suffering. (2) Joy is brief; the resulting
pain lasts.
Stanza One
Joy and pain are presented as balanced or
equal in several ways:
For each "instant"
of joy, we experience an equal "instant"
of pain. Because pain is payment for the
joy, they have a cause and effect relationship,
that is, one causes the other; thus they
are inseparable.
The joy and pain are described as deeply
felt; the joy is "ecstatic", and
pain is an "anguish." Are joy
and pain equal in emotional intensity?
The "ratio" between them is intense
and, by implication, equal. The qualities
"keen and quivering" apply to
both joy and pain. The word "quivering"
can express a physical reaction to both
joy and pain.
On the other hand, there are subtle hints
that they may not be equals.
The adjective "keen" (keen: sharp,
piercing, or biting) suggests that pain
is more strongly or deeply felt. It may
also be read as a hint that joy itself may
be mixed with some pain. If so, it prepares
for the imbalance of joy and pain in stanza
two and the dominance of pain.
The first and last lines of the stanza both
refer to ecstasy, but pain is mentioned
only once. More emphasis is being given
to ecstasy not only by the two references
but also by the placement of the two references.
The opening and conclusion of any literary
unit (e.g., a stanza, a poem, an essay,
a play, a movie) draw our attention automatically,
by virtue of their placement.
Ironically, the hints that pain and joy
may not be equals balance each other (there
is one hint of dominance for each of them).
Stanza two picks up the imagery of stanza
one and affirms the dominance of pain.
Stanza Two
To show how long our joy lasts compared
to our suffering, Dickinson uses time imagery.
In stanza one, ecstasy lasts "an instant"
as does pain. How long a time period is
this? Stanza two extends the time period
we experience joy and pain, but the time
periods are no longer equal. For each "hour"
of love, we suffer "years." How
significant or great is the time difference
between an hour and a year? Another way
of asking this question is, how much longer
does our suffering last than our joy?
She also uses money imagery,
beginning with "pay" in stanza
one. In stanza two, joyful or "beloved"
hours are paid for by "years"
of pain. The years are described as "pittances"
(pittance: very low salary). How sustaining
or fulfilling would a year of pittances
be? Joy is finally compared to farthings
(farthing: one-fourth of a British penny).
If joy is a farthing, the accompanying pain
is an overflowing "coffer" (coffer:
a box or chest, usually to store treasure).
Another change occurs in
stanza two. Joy is no longer experienced
separately from pain. Joy is described with
words indicating pain. "Farthings"
of joy are achieved by "bitter"
struggle or contest. In other words, joy
occurs with pain. The pain mixed with joy
is separate from the pain which is the consequence
of joy, the pain discussed in stanza one.
We continue to experience this pain as payment
for our joy. This pain remains unmixed with
joy. The pain which results from joy is
intense; it is "sharp. Continuing the
money imagery, the pain resulting from the
farthings is love (mixed with pain) is fills
coffers "with tears." Are these
tears of joy or of pain?
Is there an implication
that we pay for our ecstasy by our agony,
that the ecstasy is merited because of the
agony or that the ecstasy is justified by
the agony?
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Links
 Complete
Poems of Emily Dickinson
Buy from: Amazon
US | Amazon
UK
More
on-line
poems by Emily Dickinson with commentaries by Lilia
Melani
The
Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson by Wendy Martin
(Editor) (Paperback - December 2002)
Buy from: Amazon
US | Amazon
UK
Sexual
Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson
by Camille Paglia
Buy from: Amazon
US | Amazon
UK
Selected
Poems and Letters of Emily Dickinson
Buy from: Amazon
US | Amazon
UK
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