Sunday, January 06, 2008

The Vastness of Self in Dickinson

The Brain - is wider than the sky -
For put them side by side -
The one the other will contain With ease -
and You - beside -

In this small poem Emily Dickinson tells that the Self is vast, perhaps
coextensive with all space and time.

On the egolessness of great things she writes:

By intuition, Mighty Things
Assert themselves - and not by terms -
"I'm Midnight" - need the Midnight say -
"I'm Sunrise" - need the Majesty?
Omnipotence - had not a Tongue -
His lisp - is lightning - and the sun -
His Conversation - with Sea -
"how shall you know"?
Consult your eye!

Realising that the oceanic Self contains/owns all things
and all possibilities, Emily felt a great satisfaction that dissolved
all desire for ownership.

'Tis little I - could care for pearls
Who own the ample sea -
Of Periods of seas -
Unvisited of Shores Themselves the Verge of
Seas to be

Eternity - is Those -

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