"A little East of Jordan," By Emily Dickinson [Analysis]

A little East of Jordan,[1] Evangelists record,[2] A Gymnast and an Angel[3] Did wrestle long and hard --[4] Till morning touching mountain --[5] And Jacob, waxing strong,[6] The Angel begged permission[7] To Breakfast -- to return --[8] Not so, said cunning Jacob![9] "I will not let thee go[10] Except thou bless me" -- Stranger![11] The which acceded to --[12] Light swung the silver fleeces[13] "Peniel" Hills beyond,[14] And the bewildered Gymnast[15] Found he had worsted God![16]
Poem 59 [F145] "A little East of Jordan" Analysis by David Preest [Poem]

In Genesis 32 Jacob was apprehensive about a meeting next day with his brother Esau. That night he sent the rest of his company over a ford called Jabok, and, left alone, he wrestled with a man till break of day. When finally the man said to him, 'Let me go, for the day breaketh.' Jacob said, 'I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.' The man, revealing himself as God, gave a blessing to Jacob. And Jacob called the place Peniel (a word meaning 'the face of God'). Emily's poem about this encounter has a Gymnast and an angel instead of Jacob and a man, and her angel's asking permission to return to breakfast is in Genesis only implied rather than stated, but otherwise she follows the bible story and has the dawn breaking correctly over Peniel. 'Stranger,' or its variant 'Signor' would be easier to understand inside the inverted commas. The poem may be just about a bible character Emily admired, or it may reflect her own life-long wrestling with God, as she desperately tried to be blessed with a clearer vision and knowledge of his nature.
Top