Commentary on After Great Pain Essay

In the poem After great pain, a formal feeling comes, Emily Dickinson speaks of the stages of emotions felt; things emotion appear in a hierarchical order, which finally leads to letting go (Line 13). Dickinson notes that after great pain a formal feeling sets in, while the nerves are sombre and ceremonious, like Tombs capturing the numbness (1-2). Dickinson also uses physical description to denote the internal and psychological aspects of feelings by using words that are associated with the flesh, society, death of the flesh, and as well as the mind to fully capture its significance.

In the first stanza, Dickinson informs the readers of a funeral that takes place, which bring upon a formal feeling that arises after a loss (1). Where loved ones, who also seems to be the mourners, are denoted as nerves and gather like tombs, which symbolizes their physical and emotional state caused by physical loss (2). This poem does not use I or a speaker. This is shown throughout the poem, except the last two lines, that the sufferer is dehumanized. The sufferer is not only an object shown in line 1 but is passive, and/or submissive of the formal feeling that comes upon him or her. Then, the sufferer is not given a gender but described in terms of body parts like nerves, heart, and arms. By depersonalizing the sufferer, Dickinson uses this technique to show emotional deadness thus, the nerves are personified; they sit ceremonious.

Dickinson uses sounds to contribute to the poems effect. The poem also uses alliteration for emphasis. The s sound sit and stiff gives the line a harsh effect, the f sounds a formal feeling and the h sound Heart and He tie the sound together (1-3).

Dickinson captures the numbness to show a lack of feeling, or perhaps a lack of connection with our feelings. Imagining the word formal during a ceremony associated with tombs or death can have an affect on the heart (1-2). This stiff Heart goes on to ask a question about He (Christ) symbolizing agony and is the ultimate suffering human being (3). Also the word stiff can define the formality of the occasion. More specifically, denoting the lack of emotional feelings that exist where the heart can no longer be identified when the pain has occurred whether it was yesterday or centuries before (4). Thus, paradoxically, the numbness or having no feeling could be the agony. In the numbness state, time is distorted and we perceive no end to this agonized numbness. The sufferer then wonders if agony began yesterday or centuries ago.

The feet represent going about daily routines, but we do this in a mechanical and wooden way, which furthers dehumanizes (5, 7). Ought may be read as nothing, like zero or an obligation while Regardless grown means losing regard or concern for things or living (6, 8). There is the irony of feeling an emotion which is quartz contentment (9). Here, quartz contentment is an oxymoron where the writer points out that the quartz has of emotions (9). At the same time, a simile is being used to compare the quartzs contentment to a stone. This simile may suggest that not only does the quartz have some kind of feelings but that the feeling is like stone (9). The stone is a hard, cold substance and quartz is also a hard, colourless mineral. Thus, the quartz having feelings and being compared to a stone could only mean that the feeling is as cold and hard as a stone.

From the first stanza to the last stanza, the time of numbness that has been shortened from centuries; the end is near. However, the sufferers time seems to hang heavy (lead) . The Hour of lead is also an oxymoron (10). The hour which is near seems heavy or it could mean the time is dragging really slowly. It can also be a connotation of the present state and the minds understanding of time. Then in that hour a thought is mentioned if outlived stating whether the sufferer may survive the pain (11). Once more the poem is closed with As freezing persons, recollect the Snow. the sufferer is being compared to freezing persons (12-13). Freezing is an action that is currently happening and not yet completed. Here, the agonized feelings are being released to the sufferer allowing the sufferer to move onto the next stage. It is rather strange that Dickinson used persons rather than person. It seems the writer wants to emphasize that more than one person has experienced this feeling. Dickinson concludes her by poem presenting her final stage of grief denoting by using the words letting go (13).