~~~Emily Dickinson Poem A Day Plus~~~"I had a guinea golden" 23/1775

Version 1
I had a guinea golden -
I lost it in the sand -
And tho' the sum was simple
And pounds were in the land -
Still, had it such a value
Unto my frugal eye -
That when I could not find it-
I sat me down to sigh.

I had a crimson Robin -
Who sang full many a day
But when the woods were painted -
He - too - did fly away -
Time brought me other Robins -
Their ballads were the same -
Still, for my missing Troubadour
I kept the "house at hame".

I had a star in heaven -
One "Pleiad" was it's name -
And when I was not heeding,
It wandered from the same -
And tho' the skies are crowded -
And all the night ashine -
I do not care about it -
Since none of them are mine -

My story has a moral -
I have a missing friend -
"Pleiad" it's name - and Robin -
And guinea in the sand -
And when this mournful ditty
Accompanied with tear -
Shall meet the eye of traitor
In country far from here -
Grant that repentance solemn
May seize opon his mind -
And he no consolation
Beneath the sun may find.

[edit] Version 2
I had a guinea golden —
I lost it in the sand —
And tho' the sum was simple
And pounds were in the land —
Still, had it such a value
Unto my frugal eye —
That when I could not find it —
I sat me down to sigh.

I had a crimson Robin —
Who sang full many a day
But when the woods were painted,
He, too, did fly away —

Time brought me other Robins —
Their ballads were the same —
Still, for my missing Troubador
I kept the "house at hame."

I had a star in heaven —
One "Pleiad" was its name —
And when I was not heeding,
It wandered from the same.
And tho' the skies are crowded —
And all the night ashine —
I do not care about it —
Since none of them are mine.

My story has a moral —
I have a missing friend —
"Pleiad" its name, and Robin,
And guinea in the sand.
And when this mournful ditty
Accompanied with tear —
Shall meet the eye of traitor
In country far from here —
Grant that repentance solemn
May seize upon his mind —
And he no consolation
Beneath the sun may find.


Dear Readers of Emily Dickinson! Greetings! It makes one want to write simple poetry, given the vast amounts of required hours in the research stacks. Warning; Emily's poem today is going to be long.
And you know that to be warned is to be forearmed. So get out yer guns and let's get at her! The poetry; of course!

Two Versions; mostly the same; I shall be commenting on the first version and when and if I get through all 1775 poems, then I will go back an attack the altered versions of the same thing; c'est la meme choice! It is the same thing! Really! Really? We'll see...later alligators! Here goes today's Emily offerings;


Version 1
I had a guinea golden -
I lost it in the sand -
And tho' the sum was simple
And pounds were in the land

Emily has a gold coin, a guinea. What is a guinea in Emily's time; what did it mean. Google that guinea!

"The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813.[1] It was the first English machine-struck gold coin, originally worth one English Pound sterling,[1] equal to twenty shillings; but rises in the price of gold caused the value of the guinea to increase, at times to as high as thirty shillings; from 1717 onwards its value was officially fixed at twenty-one shillings, after Great Britain adopted the gold standard."(Wikipedia)

"and though the sum was simple" meaning to quote a popular quote; "he knows the worth of everything and the value of nothing". (not sure who said this; anyone know? I'll insert into google later). The fact is, Emily is talking about money; the value of money, the worth of objects, things, in particular, spiritual worth over-riding any type of mere monetary offerings. Since that is the way the world works, and did back then, Emily is commenting on how shallow the loss to her of this "valued" piece of material worth.

"And pounds were in the land". This could be a "double entendre" or double meaning here. The pounds or the value was in the "land", meaning this is "our land" we will fight for it "lock stock and barrel". Land being quintessential part of a persons worth back then, in the pioneer days. Land meant survival. Growing one's food, making one's shelter. It was to be fought and died over, over and over again. The value almost the same if not moreso at time than a human soul.

"Still, had it such a value
Unto my frugal eye -
That when I could not find it-
I sat me down to sigh."

In the above stanza Emily is talking about how the value of the land, of the worth of the coin (since the value of the coin is indicative of how well a country's resources aka "the land and it's resources" than the value of the coin and land is intrically interwoven here.

Emily's "frugal eye"; is important to note here. Most were frugal then, the pioneers had to be frugal for survival sake. Learn to make the most of what you have. This is something of a feather in Emily's cap. A truly good asset.

When Emily could not find the coin (the gold guinea) in the sand she became sad and "sigh"ed, if not cried.

Now as if an abrupt change of topic Emily is discussing birds, in particular, Robins.

I had a crimson Robin -
Who sang full many a day
But when the woods were painted -
He - too - did fly away -

Here the allegorical analogies come into play with Emily's personal lexicon fully deployed. "I had a crimson Robin". Remember how Emily loves crimson? It is a lively colour, representative too, of Christ shed blood. The Robin may be in reference to Sue Gilbert or maybe just a friendly bird Emily befriended in the woods...or something else entirely different. Come fall the bird flew away when it became "painted" (undoubtley crimson with the turn of the genetian. (Maybe?).

"Time brought me other Robins -
Their ballads were the same -
Still, for my missing Troubadour
I kept the "house at hame"."

So know Emily has more friends but she still pines for her original Robin. "Still, for my missing Troubadour I kept the "house at hame". I shall google "hame". I have to believe this "hame" is a typo. Maybe it should read "house at home". Anyone know any differently?

In other words; Emily kept the homefires burning. That's what I believe she meant; "house at home".

"I had a star in heaven -
One "Pleiad" was it's name -
And when I was not heeding,
It wandered from the same -
And tho' the skies are crowded -
And all the night ashine -
I do not care about it -
Since none of them are mine "

Emily is feeling loveloss again. The feeling that her Robin "troubadour" has taken off and now the "star" in the Heavens, in the Pleiad (Emily is showing her astronomy classes at Amherst College in Amherst MA. Emily does want love to be constant and does not want her "one star" Troubadour Robin missing in action, gone the way of nature, following due course across the sky. But Emily wants him at home. Must be reference to her own personal experience with an actual person.

"My story has a moral -
I have a missing friend -
"Pleiad" it's name - and Robin -
And guinea in the sand -
And when this mournful ditty
Accompanied with tear -
Shall meet the eye of traitor
In country far from here -
Grant that repentance solemn
May seize opon his mind -
And he no consolation
Beneath the sun may find

In the above stanza Emily puts together all the loose ends of the poem. We have the "missing friend moral". The missing friend should I say fiend is a "traitor" to Emily leaving her in her need of that firend. Emily feels the pain of this loss. The firend was a "golden guinea" to her, as well as a Crimson Robin" and a "star" from the Pleide" constellation (apparently that is where Heaven throne is, in the Constellation Cassieopia"

The traitor (maybe suitor?) is a man as reference "his". So Emily is only going to accept "repentance solemn" or sincere apology of the profuse kind and that she will dole out her retributive justice "he no consolation beneath the sun may find". So Emily was indeed a jilted lover! I wonder whom did that to Emily, that sod!

jj


Chiccoreal's Take on the Above Emily DIckinson Poem "I had a guinea golden";

Emily's Jilted Lover's Lament

That Sod
Who once stood for
Something to you
As you placed him
Far too high
on your unmountable
Pedestal
Emily
You should have known
your soul too good for him
that piece of crap metal
worse than a guinea lost in the sand
he wasnt really worth a dime
that star that fell from your heavens
in the Pleide zone
That Cock Robin so sure of himself
Thank Gosh he blew you off
as he blew away
May he burn from his banishment
in a place we like to call
"Conscience"
That dog has none!
(no conscience)
So dont fret Emily
There are better Robins
Even though this dude
was a dude
The imprint he left
kept your hope for love fresh
in the home fires
crimson
yet burning with passion
he was not
you should have tested his guinea metal
He must have been mettling with someone else!
The Cad!

jj


http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/I_had_a_guinea_golden_%E2%80%94