Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine,
Unwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine!
Oh the Earth was made for lovers, for damsel, and hopeless swain,
For sighing, and gentle whispering, and unity made of twain.
All things do go a courting, in earth, or sea, or air,
God hath made nothing single but thee in His world so fair!
The bride, and then the bridegroom, the two, and then the one,
Adam, and Eve, his consort, the moon, and then the sun;
The life doth prove the precept, who obey shall happy be,
Who will not serve the sovereign, be hanged on fatal tree.
The high do seek the lowly, the great do seek the small,
None cannot find who seeketh, on this terrestrial ball;
The bee doth court the flower, the flower his suit receives,
And they make merry wedding, whose guests are hundred leaves;
The wind doth woo the branches, the branches they are won,
And the father fond demandeth the maiden for his son.
The storm doth walk the seashore humming a mournful tune,
The wave with eye so pensive, looketh to see the moon,
Their spirits meet together, they make their solemn vows,
No more he singeth mournful, her sadness she doth lose.
The worm doth woo the mortal, death claims a living bride,
Night unto day is married, morn unto eventide;
Earth is a merry damsel, and heaven a knight so true,
And Earth is quite coquettish, and beseemeth in vain to sue.
Now to the application, to the reading of the roll,
To bringing thee to justice, and marshalling thy soul:
Thou art a human solo, a being cold, and lone,
Wilt have no kind companion, thou reap'st what thou hast sown.
Hast never silent hours, and minutes all too long,
And a deal of sad reflection, and wailing instead of song?
There's Sarah, and Eliza, and Emeline so fair,
And Harriet, and Susan, and she with curling hair!
Thine eyes are sadly blinded, but yet thou mayest see
Six true, and comely maidens sitting upon the tree;
Approach that tree with caution, then up it boldly climb,
And seize the one thou lovest, nor care for space, or time!
Then bear her to the greenwood, and build for her a bower,
And give her what she asketh, jewel, or bird, or flower —
And bring the fife, and trumpet, and beat upon the drum —
And bid the world Goodmorrow, and go to glory home!
For me this poem's over-all theme is "knight in shining armour" as per Arthurian legend. The first line greatly humourous by it's melodramatic words "sing me a strain". Emily is almost making a mockery of her own unmarried state "Unwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine!" Her humour continues in referring to nine friends as the nine muses, probably an inside joke. Her friends probably understood exactly what Emily was talking about; as they no doubt were in on the "inside joke" of Emily's mocking and pun-like humour.
Emily says in a roundabout way that love is for everyone, rich or poor or servant (swain). "unity made in twain" is quite poetic considering that twain is referring to two opposites or same (which twain means actually) coming together in marriage.
There is much personal evoking of phrase, many natural source references, bees, flowers, birds, etc. There are also puns, slight turning of stereo-typical phraseology to make a unique Dickinsonian language or lexicon wholly unique to Emily Dickinson's brand of poetry.
In this poem, Emily is considering how everything on earth is "married" or paired up with something else. In Emily's poem there is always courtship happening; "God hath made nothing single but thee".
"Thou are a human solo:? Should it not read "Thous are a human soul"? So everything in the world but the human soul is pair-bonded. This is interesting...
Emily is very playful, child-like in this verse; "
"The bee doth court the flower, the flower his suit receives,
And they make merry wedding, whose guests are hundred leaves;"
Should there not be an "a" in "whose guests are {sic}'a' hundred leaves;? This is the playfulness and double-entendre employed earlier with "sole".
This line reminds me of how fathers have a certain "authority" to take a wife and make sons, rather chauvinistic, but showing these signs of male-dominated Victoria society. I wonder if Emily intentionally wrote socio-political satire? The chauve line being "and the father fond demandeth the maiden for his son". So much for a marriage not arranged! Poor Emily!
"he wind doth woo the branches, the branches they are won,
And the father fond demandeth the maiden for his son"
Emily seems intent on a Shakespearean reference below; remember "mortal coil" and worms yes even the Biblical "Wormwood". Her Emily shows some of her latter day fear of death and obsession with morbid themes. Maybe Emily feared she would die a thousand deaths if she did marry if she had a transcendental-type (The Master Poems) with a nebulous Christ figure. Her poem reflects this attitude; "death claims a living bride". Even night and day marry, just not Emily, no, never. When she continue to read more poems and figure out her unique psychology and hopefully, see exactly what it is that is causing her this obsessive angst.
he worm doth woo the mortal, death claims a living bride,
Night unto day is married, morn unto eventide;
Earth is a merry damsel, and heaven a knight so true,
There is some fun punsterish reference to "Sue" and I am wondering if this poem is referring to her friend Sue;
"nd Earth is quite coquettish, and beseemeth in vain to sue."
Did Emily think of her on again off again relationship with her best friend here. Did she think Sue "vain"? And Emily refers to herself as the "earth". Is this Emily's personal lexicon here? More to discover on daily Emily Dickinson poem critique and analysis. It is fun to understand Emily's unique to say the least psychology through her poems. Something so close to the heart, it is bound to be an amazing discovery!
jj
All natural items in this way are interplaying in this
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