Today we will be exploring and comparing two poems on the subject of God.

Here is the rst poem: 357 God is a distant - stately Lover Woos, as He states us - by His Son Verily, a Vicarious Courtship Miles, and Priscilla, were such an One But, lest the Soul - like fair Priscilla Choose the Envoy - and spurn the Groom Vouches, with hyperbolic archness Miles, and John Alden were Synonym Lets rst think broadly on the message. Dickinson is explaining Gods relationship with mankind - it is directed at every human - and she is not speaking personally. Quickly, a vast separation between us and God is established. There are three major things that immediately come to mind though. Firstly, there is quite noticeably sibilance (or the hissing effect produced by letters s or sh) present in this piece *Reread 1st*. Secondly, the fact that God is metaphorically being described as a distant lover of mankind. Thirdly, there is a massive allusion ranging from lines 4-8 that 95-100 percent of you do not recognize nor understand. " Dickinson alludes to a poem by Henry Longfellow called The Courtship of Miles

Standish. It focuses on the love triangle between three Plymouth pilgrims, Miles Standish, John Alden, and Priscilla Mullens. Essentially, Miles (an experienced military captain) wishes to woo Priscilla with a love letter which he asks John Alden (his close younger friend) to personally deliver - not knowing that John is in love with her too. John reads the letter to Priscilla, hiding his true feelings for her as he does not wish to jeopardize his friendship. Having more interest in John than Miles, Priscilla, smiling archly says why dont you speak for yourself, John? John returns to Miles and tells
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him of the current events. Infuriated, Miles makes war with the Indians. News nds its way to Priscilla and John that Miles has been killed, and John decides to marry Priscilla. Miraculously, Miles had in fact survived a poisonous arrow and he returns to give them his blessing. " Now as we return to the poem, we can see that the Envoy (proper noun) is John

- the messenger. And the Groom (proper noun) is Miles. But, lest the Soul - like fair Priscilla Dickinson personies the Soul as its own entity and here is where the fog seems to dissipate. Initially I thought that this poem was an allegory for the Holy trinity with Soul as the Holy Spirit; but here, our Soul is choosing because it is that which must be saved by accepting Christianity and then the Holy Spirit will envelop your body/soul. The Holy spirit is part of God. This poem is actually an extended metaphor ingeniously comparing the relationship between mankind, and Jesus and God, to that of Miles Standishs love triangle. Jesus is John Alden, the envoy. God is Miles, the groom. The Soul refers to the thing within all of us that is being courted almost by two suitors Jesus and God. God is the distant lover that sends his son, the envoy, to confront and woo mankind convey his message of love and redemption to people. " So what are the implications of comparing mankinds relationship with Jesus and

God to a love triangle? It may suggest that the relationship is emotionally confusing and complicated mostly because of the difculty of communication. Each side wants something but the feelings and wishes are mixed so they cant all get what they want. " Regarding lines 5-7, we would be more attracted to the messenger than God

because we could relate to the messenger because he was human and his miracles

were empirical. That is more attractive to us. Also, Jesus appears more sympathetic and loving as he never smites anyone, and he remained perfect, pure and without sin while living within the imperfect world. And he sacriced his life in a most torturous way. It makes sense that people would begin to love and pray to Jesus and forget about the one behind the scenes, God (which would be spurning him - he is the one who is trying to love us and get us to love him). Line 7, is a buried allusion to the poem by Longfellow. Archly the maiden (Priscilla)
smiled, and said, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John?"

A hyperbola is an arch with

innite extension, so Dickinson uses a bit of geometrical wordplay here. Arch means affectedly teasing; so I believe that Dickinson is suggesting that God used Jesus to pretentiously arouse mankind. So as Priscilla entices John; Jesus does some of mankind. " Going to the last line now, keeping in mind the point about the motives of each

side of the love triangle. Miles and John Alden were Synonym - We are forced to acknowledge that Jesus is a part of God and so their motives are one. It doesnt matter whether we choose God or Jesus because they are both one. Similarly it didnt matter if Priscilla chose Miles or John because the love triangle would have worked out in the end anyway. John would have been ne with Priscilla and Miles marrying (because in the beginning of the story he hides his true feelings for the sake of his good friend), and in the actual end Miles gives John and Priscilla his blessing. " I wondered why Dickinson ended the poem with a Caesura: maybe it was to

maintain the proper amount of syllables which is 11/10/11/10 10/10/10/10 = this part seems to get monotonous when counting the Caesuras as syllables.

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She really could have used synonymous (adjective instead of noun) which has

four syllables, and it would have t in well with the sibilance which lls the piece. Maybe that was the common way of saying it back then. Maybe she wanted to emphasize that John and Miles truly were one, as synonym is and sounds very singular. I think she deliberately wished to end the piece with a caesura with the intent of creating some sort of effect of maybe incompletion, and it gracefully leads the reader out of poem. The Caesura could represent an indenite end to the line, and since it is the last line of the poem - an indenite end to the poem. " So Dickinson calls God a distant lover, which would suggest that God does not

formally confront us (he actually does not ever in his full form) and that the relationship is complicated as communication is difcult. God sends burning bushes and other things to speak with mankind. If any of you have had long distant relationships (I havent), then you know that they tend to be a struggle and that they end in heartbreak; hang onto that thought as it will become relevant in this next poem - which is almost a sequel to this one (and chronologically it does come as the next poem she writes about God). That thought will act as foreshadowing if we treat her poems as her train of thought which is maturing and progressing like a story. So it will act as foreshadowing as we can anticipate what she may be feeling/thinking (& therefore writing about) after this poem.

376 Of Course - I prayed And did God Care? He cared as much as on the Air A Bird - had stamped her foot And cried Give Me My Reason - Life I had not had - but for Yourself Twere better Charity To leave me in the Atoms Tomb Merry, and Nought, and gay, and numb Than this smart Misery. " This poem is clearly personal, contrasting the previous poem. Here Dickinson is

almost saying why isnt he returning my calls? if we extend the metaphor of God as her distant lover. After the last poem we could anticipate something like this coming up. " Essentially, Dickinson is asking God for the meaning of her life/her purpose and

God is seemingly not answering because he does not care. Dickinson reacts by stating that she shouldnt have ever been born - and she would have been happier that way. God seems like such a cold distant lover now. " To Dickinson, God does not care much if at all about her prayer, which is a

completely common and understandable feeling because we would expect to see Gods work clearly and quickly. Its understandable that one would feel ignored and as a result unimportant and small. She compares herself to a bird in a simile comparing Gods care for her to that of a bird that cried give me my reason life. This is to suggest that she is small and unimportant because to God, humans take precedence over other Earthly things. Its interesting that Dickinson would use an animal usually representing hope (for example as she does in Hope is the thing with Feathers) in a very hopeless poem. Maybe it is to show that even the normally hopeful bird is frustrated and demoralized as

it stamps her foot on the air. One cant stamp the air so that indicates frustration but also eagerness (as she is crying) - the birds actions indicate minimal hope and if the bird is supposedly the most hopeful thing, then there isnt much hope around. " In the third last line, Dickinson states that it would be better for her to be left in

the Atoms tomb as uncreated matter - again the idea of a small subject is presented, the atom. And she says to be left there happy and nothing, and lighthearted and without feeling than this smart misery. It would have been better if she was ignorant and senseless because she would have been happier - she curses the fact that she is smart and ponders these questions of meaning. There is an idea of ignorance is bliss here. " This poem is quite Euphonic and Melodic which is odd considering the mood and

subject matter. Reread* Its like making a sad/dark song sound happy. The previous poem was hardly melodic and it wasnt really euphonic but it wasnt discordant either. " Unlike the previous poem, the ending to this poem is denitive. Placing a period

as oppose to a caesura here closes the thought denitely. It acts like a brick wall that the reader smacks into after the miserable ending of the poem. The solid ending as oppose to the indenite one absolutely has a different effect on the reader. " The last poem was about complex love and this one was about desolation. Some

form of the latter often does come after the former.

I hope I enlightened you in some way today and thanks for listening to my presentation.

Source http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/hwlongfellow/bl-hwl-miless.htm - this is simply the full poem The Courtship of Miles Standish