I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given.
Now read another poem, also by Emily Dickinson:
"Faith" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see—
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.
In the first poem the author presents faith (to believe in God) as commendable; however, in the second poem the same author presents “Faith” as something that is not of much importance, especially "In an Emergency". How can we resolve this contradiction? One way is to say that the author changed her opinion about faith in between writing the two poems. A better literary understanding is to read the poems, not as the voice of the author, but as the voices of different speakers.
When studying literature it is good practice not to equate the author with the speaker. Just like Hamlet is not William Shakespeare, so too in poetry the speaker in the poem is not the poet.
Exercise Question:
1. Explain the difference between the author of the poem and the speaker in the poem.
2. It is possible to characterize (i.e. describe the character of) the speaker in the poem "I Never Saw a Moor"; however, it is not possible to use the same characterization and impose it on the author. Why not?
Dickinson spent her entire life in Massachusetts. She never left the state even once. It's one of the smallest states as well (and my birthplace, BTW). I found her religious views to be very interesting. She was raised with the Calvinist religious dogma, which she didn't agree with. Not being able to question those ideas, she eventually stopped going to church because of it. That was radical of course.
ReplyDeleteThe thought that the poet isn't always the speaker is a good point. I think the first poem fits the author more than the second one.