Ah, Necromancy Sweet! 1
Ah, Wizard erudite!
Teach me the skill,
That I instil the pain 4
Surgeons assuage in vain,
Nor Herb of all the plain
Can Heal!
Ah, Wizard erudite!
Teach me the skill,
That I instil the pain 4
Surgeons assuage in vain,
Nor Herb of all the plain
Can Heal!
(F.168/J.177)
[1] Necromancy:: a skill to communicate with the dead, supposedly. Sweet:: being sweetened.
[2] Wizard:: a wise man in contemptuous use, who practised the necromancy, a necromancer. erudite:: learned, in sarcastical use (OED 1).
[3] Teach me:: to ask the heaven to teach, not to ask the wizard.
[4] instil:: to infuse slowly, to the wizard who performs necromancy. instil the pain:: a necromancer instills slowly the pain to his clients. Dickinson wanted them to taste the same.
[4–7] pain, in vain, Nor Herb, can Heal:: the pain of losing family members or friends, that people sometimes go to the wizard for necromancey.
Thus the wizard's necromancy Weaves a magic spell for fancy. ─ Poetry of the Bucks Chronicle (1823)
Nor wizard, nor warlock, nor all the fancied power of necromancy, shall prevent me! ─ The Irish Necromancer (1821)