Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

You can’t tell by reading this post, but earlier tonight, while reading the first entry in MMMB, I was doing my happy dance (theme music provided by Ren & Stimpy).  It was a silent version of my happy dance because I was in one of the graduate study rooms in the library, but you get the idea.  The first entry in MMMB is titled “An Essay on Friendship,” and I’ve typed out the whole thing, all 160 lines, below, so we can all be on the same page.

My immediate reaction was something along the lines of “heck yeah!” because as you’ll see from the poem below, there are many references to bonds of friendship these women formed with each other.  Key words and phrases struck me:

strong affections, hearts cemented, mutual love, tender tye, union of the soul, sacred bond, tender joy, divine friendship, bosom friend, sacred trust, fond partner of their soul, sweet bonds of friendship, and friendly souls.

That's just to name a few.  And while some might find the language of the poem a little hokey by today’s standards, especially because of the rhyming couplet format, I found it sweet and sincere.  There is real love, warmth, and tenderness present in these lines by Hannah Griffitts.  There is also, if I’m not mistaken, a tone of instruction on how to maintain this type of intimate relationship with other women.  There are also sections of the poem that deal with the death of women, and how it affects the friends left behind.  I think my hunch concerning MMMB as a concrete site of the lesbian continuum is not so far off, and that’s a relief to me. 

Enjoy the poem, after the jump.

An Essay on Friendship

The Friend requires, & friendship does demand,
At least th’ attempt from my inferior Hand.
The Heart shall dictate & the Pen rehearse
And keep the Subject flowing with the Verse,
While I describe the social Joys we find        [5]
In Hearts cemented & the friendly Mind,
The strong Affection & the watchful Care,
The feeling Pity & the ardent Pray’r.
I pain the mutual Love, the melting Eye
And all the Beauties of the tender Tye.—        [10]
—Friendship, my Friend’s an Union of the Soul
Expands its Flames & spread’s throughout the whole.
The greatest Blessing we enjoy below,
From this pure Stream untainted Pleasures flow,
So fix’d this Friendship & so firm its Love,        [15]
‘Tis only rival’d by the bless’d above,
Nor is it in the Pow’r of Death to end
Or separate us from a virtuous Friend,
Keep but the sacred Bond forever fast,
‘Till Death shall strike & Nature breathe her last    [20]
Then in her Glory, she shall brighter shine,
And all their Friendship will be quite divine,
But such the Nature of this tender Joy,
Reserve will wound it & distrust destroy
A cool Indiff’rence poison all the Name,        [25]
Damp the kind warmth & chill the vital Flame.
Let those who choose a bosom Friend on Earth
Judge before Friendship, then confide ‘till Death—
To keep it lasting, thus the Centre be,
A noble unaffected Piety.                [30]
The other Virtues, here may claim a Place
This is the chief & this alone the Base,
The Bond to strengthen, it requires we find,
Similitude of Passions & of Mind,
Alike in Tempers, as alike in Love,            [35]
Mutual their Faith & Confidence improve
By simpathetic Tenderness are known
And feel each others Sorrows like their own.
Kind to their Failings, to their Virtues Just
With watchful Care they guard the sacred trust,    [40]
A feeling Heart, a sympathizing Soul
Can with a friend in all their Griefs condole
Joy when they Joy, & when they sorrow, mourn
Signs to their Sighs, & Tears to theirs return,
In Silence weep, & bear the tender Part,        [45]
That wounds the Soule & melts the bleeding Heart,
For oh! In every Grief their Friend has known,
It strikes as deep & pains them as their own,
“In those dear Bonds of mutual Union ty’d,
“No Time can break, nor distant Lands divide.”    [50]
When the calm Sea, with prosp’rous Gales is blest
They feel the Pleasure, & the Joy can taste
Nor is it only then they help to share
But in more adverse Scenes their Suff’rings bear,
In those dark times they heighten & improve        [55]
The cordial Drop which doubleth their Love
Brightens each Joy, & lessens every Fear,
T[o] increase their Pity & increase their Care,
Each Woe they feel, —in ev’ry Grief they grieve
Relief they offer—tho’ they can’t relive,        [60]
On ev’ry Call with fond Concern attend,
And hand the Cordial to the fainting Friend.
When Storms arise & raging Tempests roll
Firm as the Centre, steady as the Pole,
Is such a Friend. —                    [65]
For if sincere, (when once the Knot is ty’d)
No little Pett can e’re the Bond divide
No Storms dissolve it, nor no Passions guide
No jealous Envy can disturb them here,
They love their Friend & can that Friend prefer,    [70]
With faithful Love each Virtue they reveal
With tender Care, each failing they conceal.
A friend will ever turn the brightest Side
And strive to lessen Faults they cannot hide,
Allow for frailty in a human Mind            [75]
And shew that Mercy which they hope to find,
If ever smiling Pleasure is their Guest
“And sweet Sensations chear the languid Breast
“No Pleasure they can taste, no Joy prefer,
“ ‘Till the fond Partner of their Soul is there,        [80]
“T’would loose the relish quite & be unknown
“If it was only felt & shar’d by one,
“And ‘till they meet, ‘till each Friend has seen
“ ‘Tis all a painful Vacancy within”
When o’er past Scenes the wand’ring Mind does rove    [85]
They mourn their Absence, & recall their Love,
Bless the dear Hour & point the happy Day
When in sweet Converse past the Time away,
Instructive all – their Sorrows they reveal
Impart their Joys, or their Experience tell,        [90]
Their dearest Thoughts on each they can depend,
Securely trusting in their bosom Friend,
For by their Love, they e’re their Joys increase,
And by their Pity make their Sorrows less,
And such the Nature of this heav’nly Flame,        [95]
Their Joys, their Dangers, & their Hopes the same,
True friends we find in Union of the Soul
Are like the constant Needle to the Pole
And ever fixing there, whose guiding Ray
Directs the Trav’ler in the dubious Way,        [100]
Such are the Joys of Friendship, thus it chears
The social Breast, & all the darkness clears,
And why they meet what Pleasures do attend,
The sweet refreshing of a bosom Friend,
For what’s contained in each others Breast        [105]
They find, or make it a sufficient Guest
Nor wish for more, most happy when alone,
For the dear Part’ner of their Soul is one, —
If diff’rence in Opinions ever rise
They speak their Sentiments without Disguise,    [110]
All open, gen’rous, unreserv’d & free,
With noble Truth & firm Sincerity
Reveal their inmost Thoughts, impart the whole
And open all the Treasures of the Soul,
And with that Freedom which becomes a friend,    [115]
Reprove the wrong, as well as do commend,
Try to convince, & ‘tis with friendship heard,
Where they are right or where htro’ failing err’d
And readier they will own the point they’ve mist
Than in awell known—Error to persist,        [120]
Or hold th’ unfriendly Argument too long
Stiff in Opinion obstinately wrong
But still they mind when they a friend reprove,
To do it with the tenderness of Love,
Keep in their Minds this ever healing Charm        [125]
Cool in their tempers but in friendship warm.
And when the separating Hour shall come,
That calls the Creature to its heav’nly Home,
When the grim Tyrant shoots the fatal Dart
When Life shall cease, & dearest Friends shall part,        [130]
How hard to bear, how sharp the Pangs we feel
Nor Balms can cure, nor Time itself can heal
Hard, but it must be done, it must be borne
When the deal half, is from our Bosom Torne
And leaves the other but to grieve & mourn,        [135]
    How deep the Gulf where all our Joys are drown’d
How vast the stroke is, & how large the Wound,
Each scene we view encreases but our Grief
Adds to our Anguish, & forbids Relief,
When we recall the Virtues of the Dead        [140]
(The happy Moments now for ever fled,)
How the dear Partner lessen’d ev’ry Fear,
Calm’d ev’ry Woe, & sweeten’d every Care,
And bade us hope, when sinking in Despair,
On ev’ry Call did their Assistance lend        [145]
And prov’d themselves the firm unshaken Friend
Ah! These sweet Bonds of Friendship stronger bind,
Engage th’ Affections & unite the Mind,
Beyond the tyes of Nature, they who’ve known,
Two friendly Souls made intimately one,        [150]
It[‘s] these can well express, & these can tell
How deep the Wounds, how sharp the Pangs they feel
They like the Turtle, know not how to wed
Now the dear Part’ner of their Soul is fled. —
    As Good does sometimes out of Evil spring    [155]
We may from Grief this Consolation bring,
Raise our Dependence from this dusty Ball
And place it in the great Original,
Secure our Bliss above the starry Sphere
Where dwells the Centre of our Hopes, & lasting    [160]
    Comforts are.

Fidelia

Flourish locations:
Lines 66 through 68.
Lines 132 through 135.
Lines 142 through 144.

Works Cited:


Blecki, Catherine L., and Karin A. Wulf, eds. Milcah Martha Moore's Book: a Commonplace Book from Revolutionary America. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State UP, 1997. Print.