Emily Dickinson Poem in “New England” Episode (#9)
December 19, 2011 § 1 Comment
Text of the Dickinson poem beginning with the line “Whoever Disenchants,” set to music by Josephine Foster and featured in episode #9 of Papers for the Border:
Whoever disenchants
a single Human soul
By failure of irreverence
Is guilty of the whole.
As guileless as a Bird
As graphic as a star
Till the suggestion sinister
Things are not what they are —
Papers for the Border Podcast 
E.D. never fails. I have never bought a collection of her poems because I would rather be surprised and delighted when I stumble over one.
One of my pet hates in poetry is the use of the simile – it’s too facile – but then along comes Emily and says ‘As guileless as a Bird… As graphic as a star’ and lifts the whole concept. I think it is the alliteration of ‘g’ and the assonance which soften it.
One of my pet loves in E.D’s poetry is the way that she presents you with an idea and then lets it dissolve and slip through your fingers. It’s like looking at a picture that changes as you look at it. And it is all done with so few words.
M
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Marie Marshall
writer/poet/editor
Scotland
http://kvennarad.wordpress.com