After Great Pain A Formal Feeling Comes - Example Essay #2

“This is the Hour of Lead”

Discuss the ways in which Dickinson presents intense emotion in “After great pain, a formal feeling comes!”

Without reserve, Dickinson’s poems are submerged in the depths of intense emotion – from the profound depression  “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” to the vulnerability that derives from entrapment in ‘a jar’, she has invariably expressed her desperation for “Death.” Intense emotions are recurring motifs within “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died-“, “Because I could not stop for Death” and “My life had stood – a Loaded Gun”. However, it is in “After great pain a formal feeling comes” where intense emotions are prominently infused within the poem – it is the depiction of an essentially paradoxical state of mind in which one is alive but yet numb to life, both a living organism and a frozen form.

Were the “great pain” at the beginning of the poem to be considered as a means for Dickinson to present the torment she is experiencing, assuredly its inclusion of striking imageries throughout the poem would be more conspicuous. These imageries intensify the atmosphere of tremendous despondency, which is, unequivocally, found in most of her poems. The choice of word “after” implies to the readers how the poet retrieves her “formal feeling” after the ceaseless anguish; nevertheless, there is the ambiguity for the existence of “formal feeling” – it could be the delusion that is induced by abrupt demise of the previous perpetual pain. The metaphorical depiction of “nerves” as “tombs” constitutes an atmosphere of formality, as if her life is under scrutiny, even upon death. The use of the adjective, “ceremonious” connotes the idea of how every part of her, inclusive of the “nerves”, are expected to live under societal expectations; the helplessness and agony demonstrated within highlights the frustration that the society’s restraint has exerted upon her. In other way, there is also a subtle implication of how Dickinson employs the simile to signify a certain extent of self-defence. The continual agony has compelled her to alienate herself from the society and being reluctant to express any emotion as a result. Although the poem is presented in such a lack of emotions and insensibility, without reserve, the preceding intense distress that the poet has endured would be the chief determinant. Such self-estrangement and desensitisation in sentiment are accentuated through the imageries of “the stiff heart”, “the mechanical feet” and the “ stone-like quartz”, which highlight the numbness of mental and spiritual detachment. Her paradoxical mental state is revealed by the contradictive description of the “stiff heart” being able to “question”, the personification of “quartz” with “contentment” and in addition, the “mechanical feet” which epitomises the disengagement between her mind and body. These imageries are characterized by the possession of a common quality, the quality of “stiff” lifelessness; the insistence on this type of imagery is substantial in confirming the sense of numbed consciousness which is made more explicit by the statement that the feet move “mechanical(ly)” and are "regardless" of where they go. Compatibly, in my ‘My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun –“, Dickinson has dehumanised herself into a mechanical weapon, which beholds the “power to kill”, but  “without—the power to die—“, which reinforces the idea that the defence mechanism within our body allows us to carry on daily activities without conscious effort.

Within the poem, the lines are bound together, not only by the incessant reference of the imagery to the impact of melancholy, but also the fact that the poet is stating in series what happens to parts of the body: from “nerves” to “heart” to “feet”. Instead of the iambic tetrameter that is usually employed within her poem, Dickinson judiciously applies the iambic pentameter to embody the constant headache she is enduring, and thereby, hinders her from constructing proper sentence structures.  The lingering of “great pain” within herself has lead to such suppression on her emotions that the act of restraining her speech is a manifestation of confining one’s own lifestyle.  Ironically, the unconventional composition of rhyming couplets – “comes”, “tombs”, “bore”, “before” allude to the fact that the ability of self-constraint within Dickinson has been disparaged to such severity that which only agony could repress her recalcitrance. Opposing this use of rhyming patterns, in “It was not death, for I stood up”, the use of pararhyme as “down”, “noon” epitomises the disharmony in the world that which she is entrapped within, whereas “seen” and “mine” serve as a pair of regular rhyme insinuating that the solidity of rhyme is to be attained once the poet is undergoing the symbolic joy of “Death”. The prolonged stanza in the middle evinces a sense of ponderosity that is provoked by the burden of “stone” acting upon the line; the elongation in this stanza denotes the poet’s sombre mentality invigorating the faltering of speech. Moreover, the adoption of assonance with ‘ought’, ‘stone’ mimic the resonance one would predominantly affiliate with the sheer intensity of pain. Throughout the poem, the disposition of hyphenation symbolises the stuttering tone of speech and the entrapment of sensibility so as to evade from further affliction. At the end of the poem, the poet employs the simile of hypothermia to depict the stages of one’s combat with depression; “Chill” precedes the poem, whereas the "Stupor--" preoccupies it; subsequently "the letting go--" exists on the far side of its ending.

Should the deification of ‘Heart’ resemble the anamorphic state of her rationality, incontestably, the sense of detachment that is entailed within would be considered more salient. Such rupture is reiterated through the metaphorical link between the heart and “quartz”, suggesting the inorganic facet of the poet, in which no cessation can be detected, but only with the recurrent forthcoming of suffering. Reinstating this unremitting experience, Dickinson illustrates the circular movement of “the feet” “going round” and thereby typifying the lack of control in her life, even upon the notion of time. The poet’s mentality is immersed in such paralysis that the disparity between “yesterday” and “centuries” is obsolete to her. Similarly, in ‘Because I could not stop for Death”, the loss of sense of time is presented as well, yet, the difference is that the loss of rationality is caused due to the relish she experiences with “Death” - “Since then ‘tis centuries, and yet each/ Feels shorter than the day” would be the prime manifestation for this. With the employment of the definite article – “The” in coalescence with “nerves”, “heart” and “feet”, accentuate the sense of severance that which the poet holds from her organs. Correspondingly, in “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died”, “The Eyes” are deified to demonstrate a certain extent of emotional detachment; not only does it show the poet’s intimidation from people’s judgement but also her ironic capacity to affiliate more with what is objectified than people. Such apathy towards life is revealed through “ought”; she is engrossed by the omnipresent pain in which the deception of being condemned to the realms of the inferno is engendered.  “This is the hour of lead” – without question, with the symbolic imagery of “lead” being poisonous and heavy, the poet is not only highlighting her headache and its aftermath, but also emphasising the existing era that transcends the norm. The ‘chill’ that which precedes the ‘letting go’ but disconnected by the ‘stupor’ standing in the midst of such a current state of liminality, would seek to allow one to infer correlation with the reference of hypothermia from the simile ‘as freezing persons recollect the snow’ – such equates the emotionless notion of death to that of surrendering to reality.

After all, the desensitisation is nothing but merely a veil “to justify despair”.