|
|
|
|
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
Placement of H 157, 1st StanzaAs noted before in the Manuscript Books, on p 555, the first entry has (1712) in the margin. This is the number assigned by Thomas H. Johnson to the poem "A Pit - but Heaven over it." [note *] By placing that Johnson number in the margin of the holograph, Franklin indicated that he felt that the first stanza belonged with the poem "A Pit -- but Heaven over it."
Franklin, H 157 and "A Pit"Franklin's argument in Editing the Manuscripts for associating the first stanza on H 157 with "A Pit - but Heaven over it" is compelling. The Candidates in Packet 29"The final poems on the sheets in packet 29 are 'A still - Volcano - Life' (V601), 'It feels a shame to be Alive' (V444), 'My Reward for Being - was This' (V343), 'The Spider holds a Silver Ball' (V 605), 'It always felt to me - a wrong' (V597), and one, but not both, of the two poems now missing from the packet: 'A curious Cloud surprised the Sky' (V1710) or 'A Pit - but Heaven over it' (V1712)." (E43).He concludes on the basis of "manuscript appearance and/or poetic sense" (E44) that only the "Volcano" poem and "Pit" are viable candidates. [For placement of 2nd stanza with Volcano] "V 1712 ... treats terrors openly .... Certainly the second stanza on H157 follows more appropriately from the terrors of this pit than from the still volcano and quiet earthquake" (E45, my emphasis). Franklin goes on, "the first stanza on H 157 seems written specifically for "A Pit - but Heaven over it" (E45, my emphasis). Argument for "A Pit - but Heaven over it"The evidence he cites for "A Pit":
That was in 1967Editing the Manuscripts was published in 1967. In 1980 Franklin revised what he had said about the placement of this first fragment/stanza on H 157. [Franklin's revision (Harvard Library Bulletin, Volume 28). ______________
| ||||