I've heard an Organ talk, sometimes 1
In a Cathedral Aisle,
And understood no word it said-
Yet held my breath, the while-
And risen up-and gone away, 5
A more Bernardine Girl-
Yet-know not what was done to me
In that old Chapel Aisle.
In a Cathedral Aisle,
And understood no word it said-
Yet held my breath, the while-
And risen up-and gone away, 5
A more Bernardine Girl-
Yet-know not what was done to me
In that old Chapel Aisle.
(F.211/J.183)
[1] Organ:: organ-bird, a piping crow-shrike, uttering discordant notes like a hand organ out of tune; a spiritual faculty regarded as an instrument of the soul (OED n.1 7.b). I:: a Cistercian nun, hinted by Bernardine in line six.
[2] Cathedral:: poem's subject is related to religion.
[3] understood no word:: the tune of organ-bird; a complaint of the Order of Cistercians.
[5] risen up, gone away:: her spirit (risen up) and life (gone away) were like the bird.
[6] A more Bernardine Girl:: a Cistercian nun who had a stronger faith than the narrator.
[7] done to me:: the out of tune song by the organ-bird reflected the narrator's life.
[8] old Chapel:: a Cistercian abbey.
It then utters tone after tone similar to a hand-organ out of tune, which has led to its being named Organ-bird by the settlers. ─ Blackwood's Lady's Magazine, Vol. 26 (1849)
This abbey was founded in 1224 for Cistercian monks (who originally came from Alba Lauda in Wales) by the MacCarthys, and the abbots sat in Parliament; and it may be remarked, that the Cistercians were formerly called both in France and Germany the Bernardine Order. ─ The Gentleman's Magazine (1864)