The Explicator - Vol.VI - Issue 8 - June, 1948

Sep 21, 2026

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June 1948 issue of The Explicator (Vol. VI, No. 8) containing editorial credits and subscription information, followed by literary analysis focused on two Emily Dickinson pieces in sequence. The main article, “Dickinson's To Undertake Is to Achieve,” examines textual history, variant readings, stanza structure, and interpretive themes such as the nobility of striving despite denied achievement. A second section begins analysis of Coleridge’s “The Ancient Mariner,” referencing prior criticism and proposing a correction to strengthen an earlier argument.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time31 min

AccessFree to download

51. Dickinson's TO UNDERTAKE IS TO ACHIEVE

Textual history and interpretive suggestions

52. Coleridge's THE ANCIENT MARINER

Argument and minor correction (beginning)

The EXPLICATORJune,1948 "The last verse...is notyet suficiently explicated.” —Dryden THE EXPLICATOR Vol.VI,No.8 June,1948 Editors:G.W.Arms,J.P.Kirby,L.G.Locke;J.E.WhitesellBox 3024,Rivermont Station,Lynchburg,VirginiaSubscription rate—$1.50 a year,eight copiesCopyright,1948,THE EXPLICATOR # 51.Dickinson's TO UNDERTAKE IS TO ACHIEVE This poem lay for more than forty years among those passed overby the first editors,Mrs.Todd and Colonel Higginson.It was firstprinted in a brief article by Mrs.Margaret Higginson Barney andProfessor F.I.Carpenter in The New England Quarterly in 1932,where it appeared with five other examples of her"experimental"or“imperfect”work theretofore unpublished.These poems,said MrsBarney and Professor Carpenter,though they reveal“a glimpse of theprecious metal underneath,"are either incomplete,careless,or lackingin"apparent sense."The one printed here has become since its reap-pearance in Bolts of Melody in 1945 something of a crux.It not onlypuzzles but irritates.And yet it is complete and was obviously wroughtwith great care.I am assured by Mrs.Millicent Todd Bingham,whoedited Bolts of Melody,that the three copies of the poem which EmilyDickinson left are fair and decisive,differing in only one detail:"natures”instead of"sources"in the last line. The second stanza,of course,is the source of the trouble.It notonly seems wilfully obscure;it defies our efforts even to parse it withany degree of certainty.So many readers of Bolts of Melody havefound the poem a stumbling block that it warrants special attention.Here are some suggestions. I gather the theme of the poem,as stated in the opening verse,tobe the notion,beloved of the nineteenth century,of the nobility ofstriving even if achievement is denied.Variants of it appear in manyof Emily Dickinson's poems.It_is akin to the idea of"the glory ofthe imperfect"as we see it in Browning's"reach that should exceedthe grasp"or the wagon hitched to the star.But in the present poemthe idea is extended,enriched,and subtilized.The first stanza quali-fies Browning's brash exhortation and presents more realistically thenature of the strife.“Fortitude of obstacle”suggests(1)that theway must be hard if the"undertaking”can be counted an“achieve-ment"and(2)that one may gather strength from its very hardness."Toward encouragement"carries on the notion of gaining heart asone advances but also warns against a quixoticism which may be merelydestructive.The goal must be sufficiently realizable so that "encour-agement"is possible;it is as great an evil to "undertake”thoughtlesslyas not to "undertake"at all.Estimate your capacities shrewdly. TO UNDERTAKE IS TO ACHIEVE To undertake is to achieve,Be undertaking blentWith fortitude of obstacleAnd toward encouragement. That fine suspicion natures mustPermitted to revere Departed standards and the fewCriterion sources here. / —EMILY DICKINSON From Bolts of Melody,New Poems of Emily Dickinson,editedby Mabel Loomis Todd and Millicent Todd Bingham,published byHarper &Brothers.Copyright,1945,by Millicent Todd Bingham. (The poem as it here appears follows the Bolts of Melody text.TheBarney-Carpenter text follows the manuscript in the Boston PublicLibrary in putting a comma after“suspicion.”Of the two copies inMrs.Bingham's possession,one has no punctuation whatsoever,andthe other has“natures”for"sources”in the last line.I am muchindebted to Mrs.Bingham in all this,who checked the Boston MS.and sent me a photostatic copy of her “natures”version.She wasalso kind enough to read this article and make some valuable sug-gestions.—RICHARD B.SEAWELL.) The second stanza,as I see it,extends and applies to a particularsituation this new definition of achievement.Here this new and more"liberal"view is described as vitally necessary to those who mightotherwise be awed into inactivity by the achievements of the heroesof the_past and of the few heroes(Emerson,et al.?)alive today.Thus I read the stanza as follows:The f

FAQs

What is the central theme discussed in “Dickinson's TO UNDERTAKE IS TO ACHIEVE”?

The analysis treats the theme as the nineteenth-century idea that striving has nobility even when achievement is denied, extending it into how encouragement and realizable goals shape the act of undertaking.

Why does the article say the poem can puzzle and irritate readers?

It points to the second stanza as notably obscure, making it difficult to parse with certainty, which has caused many readers to stumble over the poem.

How does the article use variant readings to interpret the poem?

It highlights differences across copies (for example, “natures” versus “sources” in the last line) and uses the manuscript and editorial history to argue that the poem is complete and carefully wrought, shaping how the stanza’s clauses and contrasts should be understood.

Sep 21, 2026

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