After A Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes
"After a Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes": A Deconstruction
Emily Dickinson's poem, "After a Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes," is a work that showcases the fragile emotional state of a victim of recent trauma and pain. Much like its theme the poem provides a feeling of solemnity and ephemerality- quite literally at that. According to the Emily Dickinson Museum, the year in which the poem was written, 1863, was a part of an intense period in Dickinson's life during which the Civil War was taking place. The same source also notes that "After a Great Pain.." may have been inspired by the news of the war, seeing as Dickinson was known to closely follow the events of the War as they occurred. The entirety of the poem can be deconstructed …show more content…
The speaker presents the poem in a manner reminiscent of an individual who is weaving in and out of consciousness, as emphasized by the increased usage of long rhythmic dashes as well as the poem's abrupt disconnect at the end. There is a distinct detachment between the speaker, the poem, and the readers whom the poem addresses. The seemingly random, but calculated placement capitalizations also emphasize this detachment, as they make obscure references only the speaker and poet are truly aware of. For instance, the "He, that bore," (line 3) is a reference to Christ, and in turn serves to liken the speaker's pain to the suffering of Christ during His crucifixion. The speaker's loss of knowing the amount of time that has passed in their sorrow is highlighted in the very next line. Time itself has a distorted perception in the poem and is a paradox in itself as the speaker is attempting to define the ambiguous state of numbness one feels after a loss using the loss of time as the means to do so. Furthermore, the only points of reference as to how the speaker is feeling through the poem is by how the speaker compares their pain to that of Christ and to objects that are associated with loss and the solitude that follows loss, but the speaker never once clarifies as to the exact situation or circumstances that are taking place. Moreover, the question of who the speaker is not clarified either. By omitting the truth of what is occurring to make the speaker feel the way he or she is, the poet creates a scenario in which the speaker is speaking to themselves, and that the reader is not privy to details because the speaker would not need to explain what is happening if he or she were to be speaking to themselves as he or she would already know what had transpired to make the speaker feel as empty as he or she is feeling in the
Emily Dickinson's poem, "After a Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes," is a work that showcases the fragile emotional state of a victim of recent trauma and pain. Much like its theme the poem provides a feeling of solemnity and ephemerality- quite literally at that. According to the Emily Dickinson Museum, the year in which the poem was written, 1863, was a part of an intense period in Dickinson's life during which the Civil War was taking place. The same source also notes that "After a Great Pain.." may have been inspired by the news of the war, seeing as Dickinson was known to closely follow the events of the War as they occurred. The entirety of the poem can be deconstructed …show more content…
The speaker presents the poem in a manner reminiscent of an individual who is weaving in and out of consciousness, as emphasized by the increased usage of long rhythmic dashes as well as the poem's abrupt disconnect at the end. There is a distinct detachment between the speaker, the poem, and the readers whom the poem addresses. The seemingly random, but calculated placement capitalizations also emphasize this detachment, as they make obscure references only the speaker and poet are truly aware of. For instance, the "He, that bore," (line 3) is a reference to Christ, and in turn serves to liken the speaker's pain to the suffering of Christ during His crucifixion. The speaker's loss of knowing the amount of time that has passed in their sorrow is highlighted in the very next line. Time itself has a distorted perception in the poem and is a paradox in itself as the speaker is attempting to define the ambiguous state of numbness one feels after a loss using the loss of time as the means to do so. Furthermore, the only points of reference as to how the speaker is feeling through the poem is by how the speaker compares their pain to that of Christ and to objects that are associated with loss and the solitude that follows loss, but the speaker never once clarifies as to the exact situation or circumstances that are taking place. Moreover, the question of who the speaker is not clarified either. By omitting the truth of what is occurring to make the speaker feel the way he or she is, the poet creates a scenario in which the speaker is speaking to themselves, and that the reader is not privy to details because the speaker would not need to explain what is happening if he or she were to be speaking to themselves as he or she would already know what had transpired to make the speaker feel as empty as he or she is feeling in the