If it had no pencil,
Would it try mine —
Worn — now — and dull — sweet,
Writing much to thee.
If it had no word —
Would it make the Daisy,
Most as big as I was —
When it plucked me?
~ Emily Dickinson
(The Poems of Emily Dickinson, #184)
les marguerites
I have absolutely NO CLUE what Emily’s trying to convey here (one of the things I hated most about English classes in school); however, I like the painting very much. And who doesn’t love a daisy?!
A lot of Emily’s poems totally stump me, too. I decided to have some fun with AI and it analyzed this poem’s meaning this way:
“Emily Dickinson’s poem “If it had no pencil” explores the idea of reciprocal communication and the enduring nature of a connection even without direct means of expression. The poem suggests that if the recipient of her writing lacked the ability to write (represented by the “pencil”), they would still find a way to communicate with her, even if it meant using something worn and dull. This highlights the strength and persistence of their bond, suggesting that the connection transcends the limitations of physical tools or language.”
Works for me! 🙂
Works for me, too! Thanks, Barbara!
Of course, only Emily truly knows what she was getting at!
I do like the painting by Matisse; it’s perfect for Summertime, but despite being a literature minor in school, (and never reading so many of the classics, let alone understanding them, whether books or poetry, I wonder about my education sometimes). I admit to being perplexed by Emily Dickinson here.
Yes, the painting is so summery and I’m trying to appreciate what is good about this wretched season. Since you were a literature minor I wonder what you think of AI’s analysis of the poem, which I put in my response to Debbie’s comment above. I agreed with “connection,” a common theme in Emily’s poems and letters to her friends.
Hmm – I went back and looked at AI’s interpretation. Yes, that makes sense and now I am woeful that AI is more intelligent than me, although I admit I have struggled through the years interpreting literature. I had to take classes for my “core” program and wondered why we always had to read the same books over and over, some requiring CliffsNotes to get through, like Shakespeare, when there were so many of the classics I never read, nor have I read still, almost 50 years after graduating (supposedly with a minor in Literature).
I had to laugh, I think that’s the whole point, AI is more intelligent than all of us! Now if only we can make good use of it and find a way to prevent cancer and heart disease and other illnesses and not let it be used for nefarious purposes. As for literature, I suspect that there are too many good classics for one person to read in a lifetime, let alone in four short years of college. I do wonder how professors choose which ones to tackle.
I really should turn it off as Microsoft Word does not like my grammar or my sentences … I think “IT” thinks I am too folksy and not concise enough! It gives me suggestions how to write. 🙂 And at WordPress, I’m typing a comment and it finishes the sentence. I find the predictive text a little eerie because if it happened in my replies to comments on my own post and I said the same thing I could understand it, but other times no. I feel like AI is picking my brain sometimes. I agree with you to use AI for medical research – let it be purposeful. I have always resented the dollars spent on space travel, thinking that the money could be put to better use to find a cure for cancer, Alzheimer’s and many other diseases. We will never live on the moon – we can’t take care of our own planet and it seems nonsensical to me … yes, just my opinion and others would disagree.
A fellow blogger in his 60s changed careers two years ago, from being defense attorney to a truck driver. He listens to audio books, many from the library. So about every two months he has a post summarizing all the books he has “read” and he is going through a lot of books. I have said to him on these posts “I was a literature minor and never read any of those classics!” One book he blogged about that I have read and that was “The Great Gatsby” and I didn’t read it in school, but I liked the movie so I got the book. I’m sure the professors picked what THEY had to read in school!
I don’t use Microsoft Word, just my notepad, which has a spell check but no grammar check that I can detect. Interesting about WordPress – I have no idea what features mine has because my son set it all up for me, but it never finishes my sentences!
I agree with you about the moon. What funny creatures we are to even think of trying to live there.
I love listening to audio books when I’m walking on the treadmill. I’ll have to look into borrowing them from the library when I run out of the ones I have in my Audible library.
This Office 365, which I must buy with a subscription, although I only use Word, has a lot of fancy-schmancy stuff I don’t use. I’m a simple soul here, not into all the bells and whistles, but the one feature I do enjoy is dictating which I do when I return from a long walk so I remember details for later. I’ve always done a quick draft so when I pair it with pictures, I don’t forget anything. So that is nice, though I’ve been typing for so long, I could probably type it more quickly as it doesn’t write numbers out and does some other odd things. One day I went back to the draft I had done awhile ago and saved for later and I got into the document and clicked something by mistake and the computer started reading the draft to me – funny yes, but I was sitting here and this voice all of a sudden startled me. 🙂
I don’t think the moon will happen even in your grandchildrens’ time – it would be ludicrous to plan on living there.
I have never listened to an audio book and the fellow blogger was working midnights and did long-distance hauls (U.S. Mail), sometimes traveling 300-400 miles a night. He was going through audio books like crazy. He is now on days and only does short hauls in the city, but still listens to the books plus reads them now as well. I just finished a good book and it distracted me from other things as I wanted to finish it. It was long (500 pages). I like Nicholas Sparks and this was one of his older books which I saw at the grocery store.