Cool Cat's Portfolio

Heart, we will forget him,
You and I, tonight!
You must forget the warmth he gave,
I will forget the light.

When you have done pray tell me,
Then I, my thoughts, will dim.
Haste! ‘lest while you’re lagging
I may remember him!
–Emily Dickinson

When I think of performed poetry—especially poetry about nature and religion—I think of a choral piece. In high school, our choir performed Emily Dickinson’s “Heart, we will forget him.” I really loved the piece. I felt as if it flowed and stayed true to the emotions portrayed in the poetry. On the other hand, nearly half of the choir hated the song. They thought it was boring to sing. The tune wasn’t upbeat; it had an eerie key to a song about love. The two just didn’t seem to fit for most people.

That’s how I feel about the songs we listened to. They don’t fit. These are songs about nature and Christ, they don’t belong with folk-like tunes. The Victorian poems seemed too folksy. I respect different interpretations of songs, lyrics, poetry, and literature. But I can’t tell if Hopkins’ feels the same way.

“a record was kept of it; the record could be, was, read, and that in time by one reader, alone, to himself, with his eyes only.”

Does this mean that there is only one way to read the poem? Many people believe reading literature, poetry, and prose is only correct if you read it the way the author intended. I don’t see it this way, there are many elements that need to be taken into consideration when interpreting literature. Of course, the author’s intention plays a big part in interpretation, but it is nearly impossible to know the author’s intention. Time takes another part in interpretation—the time it was written, the time it was read, and the time we read it. Then there is the individual’s encoding of the literature. An individual’s interpretation is unique. Experiences and personalities greatly affect the way a person reads. So with all these things in mind, was Hopkins’ trying to say there is only one true way to perform the literature?

I can’t see that as the case. I seriously doubt Victorian writers intended their songs to be interpreted the way we heard. Not because it’s bad (that’s my own personal taste), but because the style wasn’t heard of at the time it was written.