What Would the Dower Be Had I the Art to Stun Myself

I would not pigment—a picture—

I'd rather be the 1

Its bright impossibility

To dwell—succulent—on—

And wonder how the fingers feel

Whose rare—celestial—stir—

Evokes and so sugariness a Torment—

Such sumptuous—Despair—

I would not talk, like Cornets—

I'd rather exist the Ane

Raised softly to the Ceilings—

And out, and easy on—

Through Villages of Ether—

Myself endued Balloon

By but a lip of Metal—

The pier to my Pontoon—

Nor would I be a Poet—

It's finer—Own the Ear—

Enamored—impotent—content—

The License to revere,

A privilege so atrocious

What would the Dower exist,

Had I the Art to stun myself

With Bolts of Melody!

                                                            F348 (1862)  505

In this concise and powerful tour of the fine arts, the poet asserts that she would rather wait at paintings than paint, would rather listen to music than play an musical instrument, and would rather hear poetry than write it.

Globe-trotting away like a balloon to music
photo by Nigel Pacey

Just as painting is a tactile art, Dickinson she dives inside the senses, wondering how the painter'south fingers feel as they create art of such "bright impossibility" that the viewer wants to "dwell—delicious" on them. For the air-borne art of music, Dickinson abandons herself to imagination, picturing herself as a floating balloon, transformed by "simply a lip of Metal" to ride the music  out into the "Villages of Ether" (a term in one case meaning the invisible substance that permeates the creation).

When information technology comes to the linguistic communication of poetry, Dickinson shrinks into herself, content to be only a listener (implying existence a reader, too, who 'hears' the poetry when reading). She wants to "Own the Ear" and enter into the poem "Enamored—impotent—content." These are three interesting adjectives: to be struck with honey, to be helpless and unable to deed, and to be satisfied and fulfilled. There is a sexual overtone to this, as if it each poem were an human action of ravishment. This tone is carried into the last line where she wonders what the cost would be if she were granted the "privilege" of being a proficient enough poet to "stun" herself "With Bolts of Melody." In this instance, rather than being ravished past a expert poem, she would accept the "Art" to ravish herself.

Dickinson's famous remark to Higginson well-nigh verse, written in about this same period in her life, besides reflects this intensity:

If I read a book [and] it makes my whole body then cold no fire e'er can warm me, I know that is poesy. If I feel physically as if the meridian of my caput were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it.  Is there whatever other way?

The idea of becoming an Ear to all-time take in poetry is reminiscent of "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain," just eight poems agone (F340), where "Beingness" had become just "an Ear" and "all the Heavens were a Bell." But while shrinking into an ear in that poem was like a descent into madness, in this poem information technology is an entre into something equally powerful and magnificent as a thunderbolt.

The power and concision of the terminal stanza is based not only on the strong imagery and the very fine final two lines, but in the sketchy language and punctuation. The reader must supply missing words, connect the dots, and supply appropriate punctuation. It'due south as if Dickinson were writing in shorthand from some inner dictation then copied down only the essential bits. Yet scholarship has shown that this verse form was carefully revised. Dickinson knew her art: Those "Bolts of Melody" don't striking her readers by accident.

Another way that Dickinson achieves power and concision is through paradox. In the commencement stanza she writes that painters tin can evoke "so sweet a Torment— / Such sumptuous—Despair" through their art. These paradoxical juxtapositions remind me of all the other poems where she has used this technique to swell effect, as in " Kill your Balm—and its Odors bless y'all" (F309).

The poem is written primarily in iambic trimeter—which is associated with dialog in Greek drama as well every bit in other poetry where speech is implied. Hither, the poet is talking in a very directly fashion to the reader. The apply of rhyme helps give usa that "Melody" and so prized in Dickinson'due south lifetime. I particularly similar the rhyme of "Myself endued Balloon / … / The pier to my Pontoon." Another effective rhymes—camber and perfect—are stir / despair, Poet / content, and Ear / revere.

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Source: http://bloggingdickinson.blogspot.com/2012/10/i-would-not-painta-picture.html

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