There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
(Emily Dickinson)
Romanian Writers Challenge 1 March – 1 December 2016
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I love this poem … especially the first two lines.
Beautiful, isn’t it? I always tell myself I should read more poetry. 🙂
Beautiful poem, Delia! I love Emily Dickinson! I read in a book called ‘The Human Odyssey’ (by Thomas Armstrong) about how there are two types of people – adapters and rememberers. Adapters were supposed to be go-getters who went out to conquer the world, while rememberers were those who tried to remember the essence of existence. The book gave an example for each – it described Leland Stanford as an adapter and Emily Dickinson as a rememberer. The book said this about Emily Dickinson – “Emily Dickinson showed few traits of the adapter. She didn’t set out to conquer the world like Leland Stanford did. When she encountered difficulty in life, she retreated to her family home. Even in her most important work – her poetry – she didn’t seek to become famous. Her poems, with their strange punctuation, looked nothing like what was being published at the time. To most people, she was a reclusive eccentric…It was as a rememberer, however, that Emily Dickinson excelled beyond measure. The delicate fabric of the inner life was what transported her. Her poems quiver with a sensitivity to the deepest topics of existence…While those around her went on with their ambitious adapter lives, Dickinson inhabited a hidden world woven of deep inner feeling, spiritual struggle, and an extraordinary receptivity to nature and to the inner lives of those around her. She spent a lifetime trying to remember the essence of what it means to exist. While she did not go out into the world and make the kind of impact that Leland Stanford did, in her own way she lived an inner life that was as rich and powerful as his outer life, and ultimately, perhaps even more influential.” After reading this passage, I fell in love with Emily Dickinson 🙂
Sorry for boring you with a long quote 🙂
Thanks for sharing this poem 🙂 It brightened up my day!
I’m starting to like her poems more and more. I’m not a fan of poetry (maybe that will change, who knows) mainly because I consider it too abstract, but her style is clear and not burdened with words that make my head spin. 🙂
I like the adapters-rememberers concept, I wonder if there’s one that can encompass both. 🙂
That was definitely not boring but interesting. I look forward to your next visit.
Glad to know that you liked that quote, Delia 🙂 The author of that book says that most of us have facets of both the adapter and the rememberer within us. Emily Dickinson probably had more of the rememberer in her.
Glad to know that you are liking Emily Dickinson’s poetry more and more 🙂 I agree with you that when poetry is too abstract it is tough to read.