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I Asked No Other Thing -- Emily Dickinson

Guest poem sent in by Priscilla Jebaraj
(Poem #1925) I Asked No Other Thing
 I asked no other thing,
 No other was denied.
 I offered Being for it;
 The mighty merchant smiled.

 Brazil? He twirled a button
 Without a glance my way:
 But, madam, is there nothing else
 That we can show today?
-- Emily Dickinson
I was skimming through Jean Webster's "Daddy Long Legs" yesterday, because I
was sure I remembered a poem written by her heroine Judy Abbott in college,
which would go with the current theme. Couldn't find it, but I did come
across this rather enigmatic Dickinson piece.  Judy, writing to her
guardian, tells him about the poem --

  "In English class this afternoon we had an unexpected written lesson.
  This was it:

     I asked no other thing,
     No other was denied.
     I offered Being for it;
     The mighty merchant smiled.

     Brazil? He twirled a button
     Without a glance my way:
     But, madam, is there nothing else
     That we can show today?

  That is a poem. I don't know who wrote it or what it means. It was
  simply printed out on the blackboard when we arrived and we were ordered
  to comment upon it. When I read the first verse I thought I had an
  idea--The Mighty Merchant was a divinity who distributes blessings in
  return for virtuous deeds-- but when I got to the second verse and found
  him twirling a button, it seemed a blasphemous supposition, and I
  hastily changed my mind.  The rest of the class was in the same
  predicament; and there we sat for three-quarters of an hour with blank
  paper and equally blank minds. Getting an education is an awfully
  wearing process!"

I must admit that, like Judy, my idea of what it means is rather vague. But
since, unlike Judy, I don't have to get an education out of it, I'm free to
enjoy it with my own interpretation!

I'd guess that the Mighty Merchant is meant to be God, a God who seems to
smile indifferently at her deepest desires. Some commentators suggest that
Brazil is a reference to heaven -- apparently, "during this period, exotic
locations frequently... represented heaven, or something desired and dreamt
of, yet beyond reach and denied." Other readings of the poem say Dicksinson
is speaking for all women seeking emancipation and freedom, the one thing
that is denied to them.

Quite apart from meaning, I think those first two lines just stick in the
memory somehow! Anyone else care to take a stab at interpretation?

Priscilla

51 comments: ( or Leave a comment )

frednamail said...

I am tempted to make a spritual interpretation of this poem, along the
lines of the Mirabai poem below:

"It's True I Went to the Market

My friend, I went to the market and bought the Dark One.
You claim by night, I claim by day.
Actually I was beating a drum all the time I was buying him.
You say I gave too much; I say too little.
Actually, I put him on a scale before I bought him.
What I paid was my social body, my town body, my family body, and all
my inherited jewels.
Mirabai says: The Dark One is my husband now.
Be with me when I lie down;
you promised me this in an earlier life."

Except Emily Dickinson is offering to buy herself. So, my intuition
senses this poem is more feminist than religious, a sly dig at the
paternal, capitalist culture of the time that kept women suppressed
and enslaved. The stakes of the whole poem, however, are raised by
that one serious and heartbreaking line, which (at least to me),
echoes the Mirabai: "I offered Being for it." It also calls to mind
what black slaves might have offered for their freedom and acceptance
(and which the slave owners rejected). For another view of this type
of relationship, see John Fowles book "The Collector."

Fred S

> Guest poem sent in by Priscilla Jebaraj <prisci@...>
> Anyone else care to take a stab at interpretation?
>
> Priscilla
>

eq said...

Priscilla Jebaraj wrote:

> Anyone else care to take a stab at interpretation?

Interesting poem, and I couldn't locate any very satisfactory
interpretation on the Web. Of the few I did find, one drew attention
to the capitalised "He", apparently missing the fact that it starts a
sentence, and another read it in an (I think) unjustifiably beatific
way, taking the smile to be God's benevolent sincerity, the button-
twirling as effortless granting of a wish, and the last two lines as
a closing flourish: "You're welcome - anything else?"

Here's my stab. Consider it one with a machete rather than a scalpel!

I would prosify the first stanza thus: "The only thing I wanted was
the one I couldn't have; and offering everything I had for it was not
merely considered insufficient, but actually scorned." (The
forbidding "But" in the second stanza, and the merchant's embarrassed
lack of eye contact, seem to support this and belie the shiny-happy
interpretation above.)

"Brazil" confuses me, so I'm going with the original poster's
citation of "exotic locations [representing] heaven or something
desired".

Now, what are "it" and "the merchant"? The supercilious "madam"
strikes me as a strong clue that the merchant is not God but the
patriarchy, which in turn suggests that the desired "object" is
respect or equality for women. Male-dominated society is amused even
at the thought of a woman attaining these things - her entire Being
is deemed an unsuitable currency of inadequate value - and the
yearned-for purchase is rejected out of hand. "But wouldn't you like
something else?" the merchant patronises, the implication being that
a shiny trinket or bauble should please the simple-minded girl
instead.

Eq.

Chellappa Mallika (Mallika) said...

Do you think it means that the Fates are
sadisic, and will give you anything but what you want?

But let's remember the other famous saying

"Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it"
So maybe they are doing it for our own good -
or for our character development

Mallika

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