I Asked No Other Thing
I asked no other thing,
No other was denied.
I offered Being for it;
The mighty merchant smiled.
Brazil? He twirled a button
Without a glance my way:
But, madam, is there nothing else
That we can show today?
Commentary
I was skimming through Jean Webster’s “Daddy Long Legs” yesterday, because I was sure I remembered a poem written by her heroine Judy Abbott in college, which would go with the current theme. Couldn’t find it, but I did come across this rather enigmatic Dickinson piece. Judy, writing to her guardian, tells him about the poem –
“In English class this afternoon we had an unexpected written lesson. This was it:
I asked no other thing,
No other was denied.
I offered Being for it;
The mighty merchant smiled.
Brazil? He twirled a button
Without a glance my way:
But, madam, is there nothing else
That we can show today?
That is a poem. I don’t know who wrote it or what it means. It was simply printed out on the blackboard when we arrived and we were ordered to comment upon it. When I read the first verse I thought I had an idea–The Mighty Merchant was a divinity who distributes blessings in return for virtuous deeds– but when I got to the second verse and found him twirling a button, it seemed a blasphemous supposition, and I hastily changed my mind. The rest of the class was in the same predicament; and there we sat for three-quarters of an hour with blank paper and equally blank minds. Getting an education is an awfully wearing process!”
I must admit that, like Judy, my idea of what it means is rather vague. But since, unlike Judy, I don’t have to get an education out of it, I’m free to enjoy it with my own interpretation!
I’d guess that the Mighty Merchant is meant to be God, a God who seems to smile indifferently at her deepest desires. Some commentators suggest that Brazil is a reference to heaven – apparently, “during this period, exotic locations frequently… represented heaven, or something desired and dreamt of, yet beyond reach and denied.” Other readings of the poem say Dicksinson is speaking for all women seeking emancipation and freedom, the one thing that is denied to them.
Quite apart from meaning, I think those first two lines just stick in the memory somehow! Anyone else care to take a stab at interpretation?
— Priscilla
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
frednamail · 8 September 2006
I am tempted to make a spritual interpretation of this poem, along the lines of the Mirabai poem below:
“It’s True I Went to the Market
My friend, I went to the market and bought the Dark One. You claim by night, I claim by day.
Actually I was beating a drum all the time I was buying him. You say I gave too much; I say too little.
Actually, I put him on a scale before I bought him. What I paid was my social body, my town body, my family body, and all my inherited jewels.
Mirabai says: The Dark One is my husband now. Be with me when I lie down;
you promised me this in an earlier life.”
Except Emily Dickinson is offering to buy herself. So, my intuition senses this poem is more feminist than religious, a sly dig at the paternal, capitalist culture of the time that kept women suppressed and enslaved. The stakes of the whole poem, however, are raised by that one serious and heartbreaking line, which (at least to me), echoes the Mirabai: “I offered Being for it.” It also calls to mind what black slaves might have offered for their freedom and acceptance (and which the slave owners rejected). For another view of this type of relationship, see John Fowles book “The Collector.”
Fred S
eq · 9 September 2006
Interesting poem, and I couldn’t locate any very satisfactory interpretation on the Web. Of the few I did find, one drew attention to the capitalised “He”, apparently missing the fact that it starts a sentence, and another read it in an (I think) unjustifiably beatific way, taking the smile to be God’s benevolent sincerity, the button- twirling as effortless granting of a wish, and the last two lines as a closing flourish: “You’re welcome - anything else?”
Here’s my stab. Consider it one with a machete rather than a scalpel!
I would prosify the first stanza thus: “The only thing I wanted was the one I couldn’t have; and offering everything I had for it was not merely considered insufficient, but actually scorned.” (The forbidding “But” in the second stanza, and the merchant’s embarrassed lack of eye contact, seem to support this and belie the shiny-happy interpretation above.)
“Brazil” confuses me, so I’m going with the original poster’s citation of “exotic locations [representing] heaven or something desired”.
Now, what are “it” and “the merchant”? The supercilious “madam” strikes me as a strong clue that the merchant is not God but the patriarchy, which in turn suggests that the desired “object” is respect or equality for women. Male-dominated society is amused even at the thought of a woman attaining these things - her entire Being is deemed an unsuitable currency of inadequate value - and the yearned-for purchase is rejected out of hand. “But wouldn’t you like something else?” the merchant patronises, the implication being that a shiny trinket or bauble should please the simple-minded girl instead.
Eq.
Chellappa Mallika (Mallika) · 12 September 2006
Do you think it means that the Fates are
sadisic, and will give you anything but what you want?
But let’s remember the other famous saying
“Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it” So maybe they are doing it for our own good - or for our character development
Mallika