Mortality is fatal
Gentility is fine
Rascality, heroic
Insolvency, sublime
[…]
A coward will remain, Sir
Until the fight is done;
But an immortal hero
Will take his hat and run…
– Emily Dickinson
No. 21
This entry’s title is from the same poem; the stanza runs:
Put down the apple Adam
And come away with me
So shal’t thou have a pippin
From off my Father’s tree!
[↩]
A Man may make a Remark –
In itself – a quiet thing
That may furnish the Fuse unto a Spark
In dormant nature – lain –
Let us divide – with skill –
Let us discourse – with care –
Powder exists in Charcoal –
Before it exists in Fire –
– Emily Dickinson913 (1865)
(cf.)
For no good reason1 I’ve been reading The Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson (ed. W. Martin, CUP: 2002). It is somewhat refreshing to find books which do not concern Cicero. And it is interesting to step outside the charmed circle of academics and then to peer back in, as though through windows. For one can [...]
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ego hoc feci mm–mmviii
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