2 To the propounded word?
3 Be stationed with the Candidates
4 Till I have finer tried 5 The Poet searched Philology
6 And was about to ring
7 For the suspended Candidate
8 There came unsummoned in—
9 That portion of the Vision
10 The Word applied to fill
11 Not unto nomination
12 The Cherubim reveal
- The relation of words, phrases, sentences, and larger units of the text to each other.
- “The word” found in line 2 and line 10 can refer to one of two things. First, it can refer to the promise, or contract, that people in the Bible entered into when they were betrothed. In line 2, “propounded” means “possible, potential,” which suggests that the person is being taken to the betrothal ceremony to see the contract, or the engagement agreements. In line 10, "the word" can refer to the contract that is “applied to fill,” or, according to Webster’s dictionary, the contract that they “vowed to complete”—the marriage contract. The first stanza is the beginning of the contract, the betrothal, and the last stanza completes that contract with the marriage vows. Secondly, “the Word” can refer to the scriptures in line 2 and to Christ in line 10 (In the beginning was the Word). In the second stanza, the “Philology” refers to these “words”—the poet knows the history of the contracts and is able to come to a conclusion about them.
- In line 1, the word “take,” according to Webster’s dictionary, can mean “to bring through the veil of death.” The person has died. However, in line 12, “reveal” means to unveil. The Cherubim have unveiled death. At the end of our lives, we all must die, but there is hope because the death will be unveiled. The poem has a nice Indo-European ring structure through the relation of these words.
- The word “Candidate” is repeated in the first and second stanza. Webster’s defines “candidate” as “a person who will be resurrected from the dead.” In the first stanza, the person is taken to be with all the other people who are waiting to be resurrected. In the second stanza, person becomes a suspended, or restricted, candidate. The third stanza does not mention the candidate, but does discuss what happens to him or her. The candidate is given “that portion of the Vision,” or a “gift or endowment of the entrance into Paradise.” In the end, even if we do not alone qualify to enter into Paradise, we can with the help of the Savior.
- Many words help to bring the image of a wedding: “finer” can refer to a fiancé, “ring” refers to the gifts that the newly married bride and groom give to each other, “word” as discussed earlier, and “reveal” which can refer to the veil of a bride. Similar words also point to the Bridegroom: “finer” can also be one who purifies, “the Word” can refer to both scriptures and Christ, “fill” can mean “to fill up the measure of sin,” and “portion” refers to a gift or bestowal.
- The relation of this text to other texts; the extent that it is repetition or new (speaking the present or the past).
- As I mentioned earlier, this text relates to the story of the Bridegroom in the Bible. Using this context creates an image of marriage and uses imagery in the word choice to evoke the symbolism of the story in the Bible—through our marriage to the Bridegroom (Christ), we can be saved and brought through the veil of death.
- The text uses the old story of the bible, but updates it by using the context of the Philologist, a person who loves words, and many new words that bring images of both a marriage and a salvation.
- The intent of the text builder.
- The text discusses death, which happens to all mortals, and a way to overcome death. Emily is perhaps trying to let people know that they will overcome death, which can be a difficult concept for some people to understand, but is putting it in the context of a wedding, which people will be able to relate to and understand.
- The relation of units in the text to nonliterary events.
- The wedding ceremony.
- The events that happen after we die.
This is a really interesting poem and your comments pay a lot of attention to detail. I was a little surprised at the wedding references you see as so prominent here: While I see these references too (mostly), I am not sure I would give them so much weight in the interpretation.
ReplyDeletere: point 3
There is one relation of text units to other texts that you don't mention, which is the reference to Cherubim (purall of Cherub). The Cherub, in Christian and Jewish tradition, is a powerful being, and in the Bible the highest of the angels. Cherubim guard the Garden of Eden, if I am not mistaken, and generally have the role of protecting what is holy or divine.
re: point 4
Death comes unbidden and unsummoned, the poem says to me, we can pretend, like the poet here, that we can deal with our mortality in our own time (we can try science - philology / vision stand for that - and language - nomination / word stand for that), but in the end it is beyond our control and breaks the boundaries of our understanding. Death is not an option but a truth, and death is not something we can understand. There is a hopeful note in there, too, in my opinion, namely that while the Cherubim will not reveal the truth / Eden / the divine to us when we want it, they will reveal it to us at the time that is right. put into a wedding context, i guess this would count as an arranged marriage?
Very interesting comments, Amanda. I did not see the connection between the "word" and death, except in the Savior's atonement as the "suspended Candidate" -- hanging on the cross. My first interpretation of the "word" relates to the poet-author choosing a word for a poem, like a lover choosing the beloved, because she is word-lover or philologist. So first, I read the language of romantic love compared to philology and poetic composition. Then I read the cross-textual Biblical allusions, which you have expanded by careful research in Webster, etc.
ReplyDelete