Music
"Publication - is the Auction" is the very first poem that I ever attempted to explicate. My professor insisted that at a very minimum we memorize our poem and recite it for the class. Because of Dickinson's use of the hymnal meter, Dr. Rinehart encouraged us to consider "performing" the poem either by singing or reciting with musical accompaniment. "Publication" proved difficult since the meter is trochaic -- eliminating "Amazing Grace" and other chestnuts. I ended up with two pieces from the Civil War era that Dickinson may in fact have known. The more martial of the two, "Hold the Fort," radically affects the sense of the poem when played in the background. By contrast "Yesterday, Today, Forever" is much more contemplative (only the first lines of the chorus fit the meter).
Dr. Rinehart was pretty emphatic about our memorizing the poem which we had chosen to explicate -- we were supposed to recite it for the class! Anyway, she also encouraged us to try unusual ways of presenting them: guitar accompaniment, choral readings, etc. Since Dickinson used hymnal meter, I thought it would be a snap to find some music. Wrong! The trochaic meter was the monkeywrench. However, I did find two pieces of music that I could use because I was familiar with them. I had Major Donna Jackson (The Salvation Army) arrange to record both pieces. I took the CD to class and attempted to lead the class in singing.
Hold the Fort!
By Phillip Bliss
As you might guess by the title this tune is martial which greatly influences the import of Dickinson's words.
During the Civil War, a small number of Union soldiers under General John Corse were asked to hold an important supply line position at Allatoona Pass in Georgia. The weary and battered soldiers were determined not to be ousted from their position and give supplies to the enemy.If you'd like to hear the midi file while reading the poem, click here.The Confederates, on the other hand, needed to capture that supply depot. Their leader, General Hood, sent an entire division to take it. When the Confederates called for the Union force to surrender, General Corse refused.
Each attack was beaten back. Corse himself, wounded, wondered how long they could hold on. Then he got the message from General Sherman at Kennesaw Mountain, 13 miles away: "Hold the fort, for we are coming."
Renewed in body and in spirit, the Union soldiers valiantly held on. The Confederates finally fell back. A man named Phillip Bliss read the story and was inspired to write a song for the church, a song which would encourage the saints to remain faithful in their place of duty against Satan's attacks.
Bliss never intended his song to be taken as lack of aggression. He meant for it to be a call to duty, a call to sacrifice, a call to victory. His classic chorus has this lyric: "Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus signals still. Wave the answer back to Heaven, By thy grace we will." [Source]
Yesterday, Today, Forever
By A.B. Simpson, 1843 - 1919
This second tune is perhaps more like the music Dickinson had running through her mind as she composed her poem. The verse doesn't match metrically but the first two lines of the chorus does. To hear the midi ==>
Albert Simpson was the third son and fourth child of James Simpson, Jr., and Janet Clark. His family’s strict Calvinistic Scottish Presbyterian and Puritan background formed Albert’s view of his spiritual standing.J. H. Burke, Minister of Music at the New York Gospel Tabernacle from 1889-1891, is credited with many melodies for Simpson's words, including his best-known lyric, "Yesterday, Today, Forever."