Emily Dickinson #324 vs. #449

This first poem was directed towards religion and how different Dickinson was from normal church goers.  She did enjoy worshiping God, but in her own way.

"Some keep the Sabbath going to Church--
I keep it, staying at Home--
With a Bobolink for a Chorister--
And an Orchard, for a Dome--"

By writing this, she is stating she does celebrate the Sabbath, but at home in her own privacy.  I get the impression that Dickinson is communicating that being out in the wild, in nature, is more Godly than being inside of a man made building.  In the next stanza, she pokes fun, in a sense, of the ones that attend church;

"Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice--
I just wear my Wings--
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton--sings."

Stating she does not need fancy clothes or bells for her to worship.  All that is needed is nature and her "wings" or purity.  As for the sermons, she goes at her own pace, when ever and where ever she feels the urge to study, worship, or talk to God. 

 "God preaches, a noted Clergyman--
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last--
I'm going, all along."

On the complete opposite spectrum, Dickinson wrote the second poem.  This writing has more of a physical feel and very superficial unlike the first poem.

"I died for Beauty--but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb
When One who died for Truth, was lain
In an adjoining Room--

He questioned softly "Why I failed"?
"For Beauty", I replied--
"And I--for Truth--Themself Are One--
We Brethren, are", He said--"

In the second part, it shows that no matter how hard you try to live for beauty, you will still end up the same as everyone else, dead.  These two poems show two sides of Dickinson, one of spiritual means and the other as very superficial. 

Dickinson #249 Vs #712

This first poem, it hits you with joy and happiness.  The first two stanzas make you wonder what she is talking about;

"Wild Nights--Wild Nights!

Were I wish thee

Wild Nights should be 

Our luxury!"

Who was she exactly referring to as "Our luxury"?  Maybe a love or significant other.  In the second poem, we know exactly who is being talked about, Death.  The mood of this poem is the opposite, sort of in a despair.

"Because I could not stop for Death--

He kindly stopped for me--

The Carriage held but just Ourselves--

And Immortality."

It seemed like she was not ready to just stop and die, but if it was her time, she surely was going to go.  Through out the poem, Dickinson describes what she sees as the carriage passes everything, as if remembering things as they were before she was to go.

"We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess--in the Ring--

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain--

We passed the Setting Sun--"

In the first poem, she speaks of her heart and how she is done searching, she is ready to settle, with her lover?

"Rowing in Eden--

Ah, the Sea!

Might I but moor--Tonight--

In Thee!"

While in the last poem, Death and herself end the journey at a strange house.  This was the end of her journey, where she was to bid farewell to Death.

"Since then--'tis Centuries--and yet

Feels shorter than the Day

I first surmised the Horses' Heads

Were toward Eternity--"

Two poems by the same person, but two completely different moods and feelings.  One about a possible lover and the other about the end.

Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Sleep Hollow was a small town where everyone knew everyone.  It was of Dutch decent so the wives would spin and the husbands would tend to their farms.  There was a tall, lanky, skinny man named Ichabod Crane who was not much to look at.  

"...narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together."

He was the towns teacher and a wanderer of sorts, living in one of his students houses' to the next, not having a true home.  Ichabod spent much of his time with the Dutch wives telling of witchcraft and omens and they would tell of ghost and goblins, most of all the Hessian of the Hollow.  The Hessian of the Hollow was to be the spirit of a fallen fighter, said to ride his house from the graveyard, along the woods in search of his head.  

Ichabod also sung in his church and there is where he met Katrina Van Tassel, her and her rich father.  When he saw where she lived, nothing but thoughts of getting rich raced through his mind.

"...he pictured to himself every roasting-pig running about with a pudding in his belly, and an apple in his mouth; the pigeons were snugly put to bed in a comfortable pie, and tucked in with a coverlet of crust; the geese were swimming in their own gravy; and the ducks pairing cosily in dishes, like snug married couples..."

To him, Katrina was a way to get rich and move out west.  He made a plan, to marry her and inherit all of her money.  What Ichabod did not realized was Brom Van Brunt was also interested in her.  Brunt was a man of pure mass, quite the opposite of Ichabod. 

"...rang with his feasts of strength and hardihood.  He was broad-shouldered and double-jointed, with short curly black hair, and a bluff, but not unpleasant countenance, having a mingled air of fun and arrogance."

They both took different ways in trying to receive Katrina's hand, Ichabod made friendly with her father, while Brunt tried to woe her in person.  Katrina's father invited them both, and multiple others, to a small gather.  It did no end will for Ichabod, his plan had failed and Katrina denied him.  He was devastated and rode off into the night.   The down fall of Ichabod being so into the stories of witchcraft and ghosts, made him very paranoid, especially that night.  Between being rejected and it being completely dark and him alone, he wasn't in his right mind.  

"All the stories of ghosts and goblins that he had heard in the afternoon, now came crowding upon his recollection.  The night grew darker and darker; the stars seemed to sink deeper in the sky, and the driving clouds occasionally hid them from his sight.  He had never felt so lonely and dismal."

This whole scenario was set up for failure.  His imagination got out of hand and ended up thinking the Headless Horseman was chasing him.  Ichabod ended up getting so scared, knocked off of his horse, and disappeared.

To me, Ichabod brought everything upon himself.  If he wasn't in it just for his own evil wants, this would not have happened.

Wheatley and Freneau

Upon reading Wheatley's On the Death of the Revereend Mr. George Whitefield, it gave me an uplifting feeling.  The way this poem was set up, it was like a eulogy in Whitefield's remembrance, giving praise;

"Hail, happy saint, on thine immortal throne,
Possest of glory, life, and bliss unknown;"

Then there is Freneau's The Wild Honey Suckle, which spoke of the living life of a beautiful flower.  The beginning of the poem starts out quite lovely;

"Fair flower, that dost so comely grow,
Hid in this silent, dull retreat,
Untouched thy honied blossoms blow,
Unseen thy little branches greet;"

Midway through the poem though, it takes a turn.  He starts to describe this flower as dying and decaying.  Turning this positive poem kind of depressing, describing death to such a beautiful thing.

"Smit with those charms, that must decay,
I grieve to see your future doom;
They died---nor were those flowers more gay,
The flowers that did in Eden bloom;"

Unlike Freneau, Wheatley was uplifting throughout the whole poem, even sounding exciting that he was going to heaven, as in the following;

"Behold the prophet in his tow'ring flight!
He leaves the earth for heav'n's unmeasur'd height,
And worlds unknown receive him from our sight.
There Whitefield wings with rapid course his way,
And sails to Zion through vast seas of day."

At the end of Wheatley's poem, she explains they need to move on and continue  the reverend's dream, while in Freneau's poem death stops any moving on and nothing comes from it.  Even though the first poem was more positive, I have got to say I enjoyed Freneau's much better.

Red Jacket Vs. Tecumseh

Red Jacket (Sagoyewatha) often used humor in his speeches.  He tried to fight for the traditions of the Five Nations of Iroquois.  When the Revolution began, Red Jacket took the side of the British, hence his name.  Tecumseh on the other hand used anger to fuel his speeches.  He was completely against white men and wanted their blood to flow across the land.

Sagoyewatha spoke to the Christians using his humorous and sarcastic speeches.  He explained to them how his forefathers accepted the White Man to sit around their fires.  Gave land and food to them, because they felt pity towards them and accepted them as Brothers'.

"Your forefathers crossed the great water and landed on this island.  Their numbers were small.  They found friends and not enemies.  They told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men, and had come here to enjoy their religion.  They asked for a small seat.  We took pity on them, granted their request; and they sat down amongst us."

While Tecumseh described the White Man as completely different, as weak and feeble;

"When the white men first set foot on our grounds, they were hungry; they had no place on which to spread their blankets, or to kindle their fires.  They were feeble; they could do nothing for themselves."

Red Jacket explains how they kept taking away from the red children and giving nothing in return.  How they pushed their religion on them.

"Our seats were once large and yours were small.  You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets.  You have got our country, but are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us."

But he is still willing to accept the white men, but hope their ways become good.  Tecumseh is determined to run the white men out of their land.  He is determined to gather all the red children he can to destroy the white men.

"Who are the white people that we should fear them?  They cannot run fast, and are good marks to shoot at: they are only men; our fathers have killed many of them:  we are not squaws, and we will stain the earth red with their blood."

Also;

"We must be united; we must smoke the same pipe; we must fight each other's battles; and more than all, we must love the Great Spirit: he is for us; he will destroy our enemies, and make all his red children happy."

Both Red Jacket and Tecumseh had tactful ways of thinking.  Although I think Red Jacket would of been more persuasive, just because the kill em with kindness comes to mind, you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar.

Bradstreet and Wigglesworth

Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan born in Northampton, England.  She like to compare scripture to writings by Shakespeare and Ben Jonson.  It was such a rarity for a woman to be a poet, on that was genuine, it created a place for her in history.  Metaphors and cunning descriptions were found through out her writings and many thought these to be simple and generous.  

Bradstreet's poems were very homely, so to say, about herself and her family.  Much of her work was centered around her beliefs and how she believed heaven would look.

"My garments are not silk nor gold

Nor such like trash which earth doth hold,

But royal robes I shall have on

More glorious than the glist'ring sun.

My crown not diamonds, pearls, and gold,

But such as angels' heads infold.

The City where I hope to dwell

There's none on earth cannot parallel;"

But some of Bradstreet's poems were scandalous, so to say.  In her poem "To My Dear and Loving Husband", she publicly shows her love and devotion to her husband, and even puts him in front of loving God.  

"If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me ye women if you can.

I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,

Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

My love is such that rivers cannot quench,

Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.

Thy love is such I can no way repay;

The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.

Then while we live, in love let's so persever,

That when we live no more we may live ever."

This was not what a Puritan woman was suppose to do, she was suppose to keep that kind of love behind closed doors and always put God first.

Michael Wigglesworth was born to a Yorkshire man and grew up in New Haven.  He became a minister in Boston and stayed in contact with some major writers.  All of his writings were focused around the beliefs and practices of his flock, the Puritans.  

Wigglesworth was, indeed, a Puritan by heart.  His poems showed that through each line.  He speaks of the coming of Christ, like he would in a Church service.  

"For at midnight brake forth a Light,

which turned the night to day,

And speedily an hideous cry

did all the world dismay.

Sinners awake, their hearts do ache,

trembling their loins surpriseth;

Amazed with fear, by what they hear,

each one of them ariseth."

From reading his poem "The Day of Doom", he goes into great detail how sinners of this world will be punished once Christ comes back.  

"You sinners are, and such a share

as sinners may expect,

Such you shall have; for I do save

none but Mine own Elect.

Yet to compare your sin with their,

who lived a longer time,

I do confess yours is much less,

though every sin's a crime.

A crime it is, therefore in bliss

you may not hope to dwell;

But unto you I shall allow

the easiest room in hell."

Bradstreet was a much better read to me, because her poems had a feeling of more feelings to them, while Wigglesworth's writings seem cold and judgmental. 

                                                                                    

Knight Vs. Rowlandson

Sarah Knight was born to a merchant and married Captain Richard Knight who was quite older than her.  She had one daughter before her husband passed away.  After his passing, she took care of all the legal duties her husband would normally of done.  When Knight's cousin died, she rod across the harshest terrain to settle his estate.

Knight wrote in a journal of her travel from Boston to New York.  The way she wrote was very surprising for a woman.  She did not hold back on how she felt about things or whom she would meet.  Also, she had humor that many writers do not.  Such as when she stayed in an inn and there were two drunks making such a racket, that Knight could not go to sleep.

"I ask thy Aid, O Potent Rum!

To Charm these wrangling Topers Dum.

Thou hast their Giddy Brains possest---

The man confounded with the Beast---

And I, poor I, can get no rest.

Intoxicate them with thy fumes:

O still their Tongues till morning comes!"

Some of the journal showed how scared Knight really was.  She tried to put on a brave face, but this was a very dangerous journey, made by a woman none the least.  One example was when she had to cross the very first river.  She was greatly terrified, because she thought she was going to die.

"...she seem'd redy to take in water, which greatly terrified mee, and caused me to be very circumspect, sitting with my hands fast on each side, my eyes stedy, not daring so much as to lodg my tongue a hair's breadth more on one side of my mouth than tother, nor so much as think on Lott's wife..."

Sarah Knight, to me, was a very brave and independent woman, way beyond her time.  She took care of affairs that was a mans job in her time, and did them well.

Mary Rowlandson was the opposite of Knight I personally think.  Rowlandson played the victim in her journals while Knight seemed brave.

Rowlandson lived in Lancaster, married Reverend Joseph Rowlandson, and had four children, one of which died at an early age.  She was captive of the Indians for almost twelve weeks, before she was returned and settled in Wethersfield, Connecticut.

In the beginning of the book she starts in great detail of the attack her and her towns people endured from the Indians.  Especially when the killings occurred, like the following;

"...Another their was who running along was shot and wounded, and fell down; he begged of them his life, promising them Money (as they told me) but they would not hearken to him but knockt him in head, and stript him naked, and split open his Bowels."

Rowlandson really despised the Indians and made them out to be horrible beings.  Through out she would look to God to help her through that time, and when something good happened, she would praise him.  In Knights journal there wasn't much mention of God except for a few times. 

Mather and Byrd

Cotton Mather was a prodigy of his time, going to Harvard at the age of eleven an graduating with a degree by eighteen.  In due time, he succeeded his father as the minister of the Second Church in Boston.  All, but two of his children died before he did and so did all three of his wives.

Mather's writings remind me of a very "Bible thumping" service.  There were very arrogant, but at the same time very passionate and descriptive.  In his writing, The Wonders of the Invisible World, he refers to the Bible many times:

"...Remember whence we are fallen, and repent, and do the first works."
"...That He should have the utmost parts of earth for his possession."
"...The Serpent cast out of his Mouth a Flood for the carrying of it away."

Mather's was also an avid witch hunter in Salem.  He was present when Bridget Bishop was put on trial accused of witchcraft.  To me, a lot that was written about this trial could have easily been explained, such as the child having fits, which could have just been seizures.  Many of the accusations were based on if the towns people got along with Mrs. Bishop or not.

"...being angry that she was thus hindered from fingering the money, quarreled with Bly.  Soon after which, the sow was taken with strange fits, jumping, leaping, and knocking her head against the fence; she seemed blind and deaf and would neither eat nor be sucked..."

"...convicted of gross Lying in the court, several times, while she was making her plea; but besides this, a jury of woman found a preternatural teat upon her body; but upon a second search, within three or four hours, there was no such thing to be seen."

William Byrd was born in 1674 at James River.  He went to England to receive his education and at twenty-two he returned to Virginia.  When his father died, he became a receiver-general of revenues.  From there moved up and became a member of the Senate.

Unlike Mather's in your face "do this in God's name or the Devil will get you" way of writing, Byrd was more into insulting people, calling them wretches and infidels.  He made it seem people in North Carolina were uneducated and simple, doing nothing more than raising pigs and cows.

"Both cattle and hogs ramble into the neighboring marshes and swamps, where they maintain themselves the whole winter long, and are not fetched home till the spring.  Thus these indolent wretches, during one half of the year, lose the advantage of the milk of their cattle, as well as their dung, and many of the poor creatures perish in the mire, into the bargain, by this ill management."

He also thought if the English would have interracial marriages with the Indians, just for the fact there would then be more people to work (mainly thinking about his own land) and to make them more Caucasian like.

"..converting these poor infidels, and reclaiming them from barbarity, and that is, charitably to intermarry with them, according to the modern policy of the most Christian king in Canada and Louisiana.  Had the English done this at the first settlement of the colony, the infidelity of the Indians had been worn out at this day, with their dark complexions, and the country had swarmed with people more than it does with insects."

To me Mather's way of talking to people through his work would be more successful than that of Byrd, because he was more forceful and angry.

Bradford and Morton

William Bradford was a Puritan man born to a Yeoman farmer in Yorkshire.  He was not educated formally, but read quite a bit, mainly the Bible.  At thirty, he came to Plymouth and signed the Mayflower Compact.

Bradford was the definition of a Puritan, even thinking himself an "instrument" for God, choosing who was to be in his colony, choosing to exile them, and how their paths should go in life.  Everything that happened during the trip to Plymouth and when they arrived there was praised to God, even if it was someone being struck down.

"...it pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard.  Thus his curses light on his own head, and it was an astonishment to all his fellows for they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him."

When his men found a stream and a house with corn in it, they did not bat an eye to take it even though it was stealing from the Native Americans.

As for the Native Americans, Bradford referred to them as savages and as cowards.  Once they saw the white men, they would run as far as they could.

"...they espied five or six persons with a dog coming towards them, who were savages; but they fled from them and ran up into the woods, and the English followed them, partly to see if they could speak with them, and partly to discover if there might not be more of them lying in ambush.  But the Indians seeing themselves thus followed, they again forsook the woods and ran away on the sands as hard as they could..."

Thomas Morton was an Anglican man who mocked the ways of the Puritans.  He was arrested twice by Puritans, deported back to England, and acquitted both times and returned.  Him and his men erected a maypole and celebrated with drinks, in which Bradford strongly looked down upon.

Morton wanted to raise the spirits of his men, which were thousands of miles away from their families.  Bradford, with his Puritan ways, looked down, because with this merriment, it would include drinking and most likely sex.

"...harmless mirth made by young men that lived in hope to have wives brought over to them, that would same them a labor to make a voyage to fetch any over, was much distasted of the precise Separatists: that keep much ado about the tithe of mint and cummin, troubling their brains more than reason would require about things that are indifferent, and from that time sought occasion against my honest Host of Ma-re Mount to overthrow his undertakings, and to destroy his plantation quite and clean."

Then there are the Native Americans, which Morton was able to talk to and observe how they live.  He still refers to them as savages but in a much severe form then that of Bradford.  He describes how they live and how they share their food with each other.

"...if any one that shall come into their houses, and there fall asleep, when they see him disposed to lie down, they will spread a mat for him, of their own accord, and lay a roll of skins for a bolster, and let him lie.  If he sleep until their meat be dished up, they will set a wooden bowl of meat by him that sleepeth, and wake him saying, "Cart up keene Meckin": that is, if you be hungry, there is meat for you, where if you will eat you may.  Such is their humanity."

Bradford was into his religion hardcore and thus judging others if they were not the same.  Morton on the other hand, had a realistic view of things and gave the Indians a chance.

Harriot Vs. Smith

                                                                   Thomas Harriot

Lets start with Mr. Thomas Harriot and his view of the New World he wanted people to see.  When he wrote his accounts of this new place, it was sugar coated, to say the least.  The Native Americans, or Savages as they were often called, were almost powerless and vulnerable, with no weapons except a few witch hazel bows and reed arrowheads.  If the English were to fight them, the savages would turn on their heels a run away.  It was made to seem they were both scared and worshiped the ground these men walked on, because to them, these men were connections to a higher power.  These explorers also claimed to using gentleness to gain the trust of these savages, and once they left, they heard of many villagers dying from sickness.  The claim that it was God striking them down for speaking and practicing against them and their beliefs was used to further proven Harriot's point.  This land was safe for the poorer community of England to  come and establish homes.

                                                                 Captain John Smith

Now with Captain John Smith, this was a whole different story.  He wanted England to know that this new world was dangerous.  The land was harsh with barely any food and not much shelter for his men.  He described the savages as having many weapons and not being afraid to charge at the men.  One example was when Smith went exploring, he left two of his men to tend his boat, both of which were killed.  He was then attacked by 200 of these savages, killing two, and was eventually taken as a prisoner.  When he was describing the encounter in his book, he made it seem like he was taken for six weeks, when in reality it was only about two weeks.  There was not much of a religious reference like that of Harriot.  The targeted people that Captain John Smith had this direct towards was young, strong individuals who could their strength and knowledge in building a community.