How to Kill Time:Emily Dickinson and the Indo-European Bard Tradition
Cynthia L. Hallen
Associate Professor of Linguistics
Brigham Young University
1870 Putnam Magazine article:“Linguistics – the New Philology”
“Within the past seventy years of this century, a new study, Linguistics, or The Science of Language, has invaded the circle of the sciences, demanding, as her own assigned place in the world of knowledge, an arc of its circumference” (J.G.R. McElroy 90).
Calvert Watkins (1995)How to Kill a Dragon.
Comparative Indo-European Poetics is “a linguistic approach to the form, nature, and function of poetic language and archaic literature among a variety of ancient Indo-European peoples.”
Calvert Watkins
Poetics is “the study of what makes a verbal message a work of art.”
The two main aspects of Indo-European (IE) poetics are the poet’s technique, and the poet’s purpose.
Poetic Technique
Metrics: isosyllabic, quantitative, bi/tri-colonic versification.
Stylistics: phonological, morphological, and syntactic devices; rhetorical figures.
Formulaics: lexical/semantic cognate phrases.
IE Stylistic Figure: Ring-composition
“the beginning and ending of a discourse … with the same or equivalent word, phrase, or just sound sequence” (Watkins 34).
Based on the Irish concept of closing a ring-fort, or circle of stones (37).
Dickinson’s Ring-Compositions
… "morning" … "morning" ... Poem Fr 148
… summer's Day … summer's Day! 104
… "Heart's Ease" … Heart's Ease … 167
… Ebon Box … Ebon Box … 180
… Cathedral Aisle … Chapel Aisle. 211
I'm "wife" … I'm "Wife"! Stop there! 225
… Agony … Anguish … 339
Knows how … Don’t you know? 391
… Draught of Life … Dram of Heaven! 396
Just once! … "Just Once" … 478
… Prayer … "pray" -- 525
Dickinson Poem Fr89/J139
Soul, Wilt thou toss again?
By just such a hazard
Hundreds have lost indeed –
But tens have won an all –
Angels' breathless ballot
Lingers to record thee –
Imps in eager Caucus
Raffle for my Soul!
Indo-European Formulaics
Formulas are verbal and grammatical devices “for encoding and transmitting a given theme or interactions of themes” (17).
IE formulaics include lexical-semantic set phrases (18), and
Simple and Complex grammatical formulas that function symbolically and indexically (41-49).
Fr479/J712
Because I could not stop for Death –He kindly stopped for me –The Carriage held but just Ourselves –And Immortality.
We slowly drove – He knew no hasteAnd I had put awayMy labor and my leisure too,For His Civility –
We passed the School, where Children stroveAt Recess – in the Ring –We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –We passed the Setting Sun –
Or rather – He passed Us –The Dews drew quivering and chill –For only Gossamer, my Gown –My Tippet – only Tulle –
We paused before a House that seemedA Swelling of the Ground –The Roof was scarcely visible –The Cornice – in the Ground –
Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yetFeels shorter than the DayI first surmised the Horses HeadsWere toward Eternity –
IE Verbal Formulas in Dickinson
cattle and men (Watkins 15)
God the Father; sky-father (8)
hero slaying the serpent; bane (10)
imperishable fame (12-13)
language of Gods and men
Lord-King; father of the nation (8)
overcoming death (12)
ruler/king/lord as driver/charoiteer (9)
swift horses (12)
tomb as house
water, gold, fire (11)
writing as stitching/weaving
Fr536/J406 Some – Work for Immortality –The Chiefer part, for Time –He – Compensates – immediately – The former – Checks – on Fame –
Slow Gold – but Everlasting –The Bullions of Today –Contrasted with the CurrencyOf Immortality –
A Beggar – Here and There –Is gifted to discernBeyond the Broker’s insight –One’s – Money – One’s – the Mine –
IE Grammatical Formulas in Dickinson
the seen and the unseen, Vedic That knows – and does not know
(Fr/1438J1413)
gods above and below, Greek Convex – and Concave Witness Fr830/J906
true and not false, Old Persian Honor and not shame Fr1445/J1427
prayer and incantations, Greek full, and perfect time (Fr822/J962)
shepherd of the people, Old English Awful Father of Love (Fr1200/J1204)
bread and wine, Greek Grape – and Maise” = (Fr862/J681)
Fr830/J906 The Admirations – and Contempts – of time –Show justest – through an Open Tomb –The Dying – as it were a HightReorganizes EstimateAnd what We saw notWe distinguish clear –And mostly – see notWhat We saw before –
'Tis Compound Vision –Light – enabling Light –The Finite – furnishedWith the Infinite –Convex – and Concave Witness –Back – toward Time –And forward –Toward the God of Him –
Fr1445/J1427
To earn it by disdaining itIs Fame's consummate Fee –He loves what spurns him –Look behind – He is pursuing thee.
So let us gather – every Day –The Aggregate of Life's BouquetBe Honor and not shame –
Fr822/J962
Midsummer, was it, when They died –A full, and perfect time –The Summer closed upon itselfIn Consummated Bloom –
The Corn, her furthest kernel filledBefore the coming Flail –When These – leaned into Perfectness –Through Haze of Burial –
The Poet’s Purpose
Say something wholly traditional in a new and interesting way (Watkins 188)
Let your light shine (Watkins 188; Matthew 5:16) Transcend time by keeping it and killing it in
forms Healing; overcoming death Locate poets and readers in a cosmology that is
permanently everlasting (Watkins 303)