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Video: Emily Dickinson’s I Started Early – Took My Dog

By T.S. Poetry 13 Comments

We have a thing for Emily Dickinson. Sort of.

I Started Early — Took My Dog —

I started Early – Took my Dog –
And visited the Sea –
The Mermaids in the Basement
Came out to look at me –

And Frigates – in the Upper Floor
Extended Hempen Hands –
Presuming Me to be a Mouse –
Aground – upon the Sands –

But no Man moved Me – till the Tide
Went past my simple Shoe –
And past my Apron – and my Belt
And past my Bodice – too –

And made as He would eat me up –
As wholly as a Dew
Upon a Dandelion’s Sleeve –
And then – I started – too –

And He – He followed – close behind –
I felt His Silver Heel
Upon my Ankle – Then My Shoes
Would overflow with Pearl –

Until We met the Solid Town –
No One He seemed to know –
And bowing – with a Mighty look –
At me – The Sea withdrew –

— Emily Dickinson,  from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

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Comments

  1. Laura Brown says

    July 31, 2015 at 12:31 pm

    Oh, so enchanting.

    That pencil post is pretty good too.

    Reply
    • L. L. Barkat says

      July 31, 2015 at 4:07 pm

      Enchanting. Exactly that 🙂

      Reply
  2. Rick Maxson says

    July 31, 2015 at 2:50 pm

    This is one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems and the video suits it perfectly. The poem reads like a daydream. It is both fantastical and surreal to me. It also begs some interesting questions: what about the dog; why does the sea seem to be a He, when typically the sea is referred to as feminine?

    The dream (poem) starts in a house (basement, upper floor) and moves into the ocean as it intensifies. The Hempen hands of sailors (beckoning, pulling her into the dream??).

    Her fantasy (poem) seems to engulf her where her shoe makes of her an oyster filling up with pearls. Did she really go for a walk? Does the town represent the real world and is that what breaks her revery?

    Are the final two lines a comment on the power of imagination?

    When we daydream they seem to overtake us. Someone wakes us, saying where were you. Right?

    Reply
    • L. L. Barkat says

      July 31, 2015 at 4:11 pm

      Rick, that’s a whole wonderful essay idea!

      I had read it pretty straight up. She walked to the sea (at least in the poem) and got… quite wet. The idea of that made me smile, knowing how reclusive she actually was. Maybe poetry was, in fact, her ocean.

      I loved the pearls part of the poem. Whimsical and beautiful, both.

      Reply
      • Matthew Kreider says

        July 31, 2015 at 4:52 pm

        Today I came across Alice Notely’s ‘My Sea’ (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/250644), and its speaker also talks about a basement, which connects to “My Sea” — and then comes this very beautiful splash:

        “The answers/ break with foam and wild pearls.”

        Suddenly, I hear this as a response to Rick’s great question, upon waking from the daydream, “Where were you?” 🙂

        Reply
        • Matthew Kreider says

          July 31, 2015 at 4:54 pm

          Drat! I misspelled her name! Alice Notley,

          Reply
        • Rick Maxson says

          August 1, 2015 at 12:30 pm

          Ah! a House of Answers as Notley writes. I’m thinking this is a direct allusion to Emily Dickinson. Perhaps Notley’s poem, still a bit mysterious itself. I ask, isn’t our imagination the House of Answers? What is within us a basement we don’t know about; where DO we go in dreams, but to this basement?

          Reply
      • Rick Maxson says

        August 1, 2015 at 12:21 pm

        Thanks. I think I’ll take you up on that ! 🙂

        Reply
  3. Diana Trautwein says

    August 1, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    So lovely. And a grand thread, too. Thank you.

    Reply
  4. lynn__ says

    August 5, 2015 at 11:50 pm

    Enjoyed this whimsical walk seaside with Emily’s imagination…missing my dog and walking partner (claimed by death’s tide 1 week ago).

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Emily Dickinson and The Sea: A Poem of Transcendence - says:
    August 7, 2015 at 8:01 am

    […] Dickinson’s poem, I Started Early – Took My Dog – is at once whimsical and mysterious. It was written during her most productive writing years, 1862 […]

    Reply
  2. By Heart: Emily Dickinson + New "Lake Isle of Innisfree" Challenge | says:
    April 29, 2019 at 9:55 am

    […] collection my daughter gave me a few years ago titled I’m nobody! Who are you? and found a poem Tweetspeak highlighted in a video a few years ago: “I Started Early—Took my […]

    Reply
  3. On Finishing a Poem & the Top of Your Head | Tweetspeak Poetry says:
    July 14, 2021 at 5:02 am

    […] “Emily Dickinson!” Melissa texts back. […]

    Reply

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