There's a Certain Slant of Light - Example Essay #3

Discus ways in which Dickinson presents pain in ‘There’s a certain slant of light’

Pain is important to the work of Dickinson. We see this in the poem ‘It was not death, for I stood up’ where the speaker’s pain is both physical and emotional, and ultimately “despair” is all that is felt except from pain. Pain is also seen in ‘I felt a Funeral in my brain’ where other people cause overwhelming sadness and pain which “breaks” the speaker. However, it is in ‘There’s a certain slant of light’ that we see the most clear depiction of pain in Dickinson’s work. The poem explores how the light “oppresses” the speaker causing her soul to be damaged and destroyed.

The central symbol is ‘There’s a certain slant of light’ is the “light” which entraps the speaker on “winter afternoons”, the use of this pathetic fallacy emphasises the speaker’s feelings that this is the end as the pain is so overwhelming and dark. However, the speaker contrasts to this by describing her pain as “Heavenly hurt”; this oxymoron suggests that although the pain hurts her, she likes it as she is able to feel something after than depression. It also links to a religious experience and a transformation that may take place, but sadly for the speaker is does not as the “light” continues to oppress. The light damages the speaker internally rather than with a “scar” and so the damaged and destroyed soul is describes as “internal difference”; this further suggests that she is transforming as the light burns her and causes pain. The speaker’s ultimate fear of the pain is expressed through the light being described as “it” which emphasises the unspeakable pain. In ‘After great pain a formal feeling comes’ the speaker becomes “mechanical” with a “quartz” heart as she loses control of the recurring pain that has no end but rather continues to “go round”. Similarly to ‘There’s a certain slant of light’ the speaker wants to escape the pain; she wants to die as a way of escape but ultimately she is unable to.

In ‘There’s a certain slant of light’ the metre becomes distorted as the light damages the speaker. The use of iambic tetrametre and trimetre reflects the constant sense of loss and something missing, but it is in this loss that the speaker transforms and changes. The sense of loss is also conveyed through the use of a hyphen following “despair” which illustrates the speaker’s ultimate loss of hope as God does not protected her from the light. As the light’s “weight” overwhelms the speaker the line gets heavy and brings an awkward sense to the metre that reflects the “internal” damage that takes place. This change in metre is also symbolic of the speaker’s entrapment and the pain that brings upon her. The speaker uses pararhyme throughout the poem to convey that the world isn’t perfect and that “despair” is inevitable due to the pain we all suffer; the speaker goes on to use “we” and “us” to emphasise that everyone suffers the pain she feels. The speaker of ‘I felt a Funeral, in my Brain’ drops down into hell however this is better than the pain she suffers from the overwhelming noise of her funeral. The use of hyphens through the poem emphasise the “Drum” beat which overwhelms her sense and “Ear” as the noises slowly destroy mentally and physically as the light does in ‘There’s a certain slant of light’.

The speaker mixes her senses in ‘There’s a certain slant of light’ as the “light” continues to cause overwhelming pain; the “cathedral tunes” should be positive however becomes negative as they reflect the damage the light has on the speaker’s senses. And so the music she hears reflects her utter entrapment and her destroyed sight and hearing as the experience damages her. Entrapment and the pain it causes is further emphasises through the “seal” which can’t be open and so locks the speaker with the “light” and into her own “despair”. This despair can be seen to reflect the speaker’s punishment she receive from God as she loses all hope and faith due to the light’s astounding pain. Despair is also seen in the poem ‘It was not death, for I stood up’ where the speaker’s pain leads to total loss of hope that she feels more than just despair. The speaker becomes locked “without a key” which emphasises the forced entrapment which is suffered in ‘There’s a certain slant of light’, and the mental pain is leaves upon the speaker as a result.

Ultimately, pain is important to Dickinson’s work. The speaker suffers pain in ‘It was not death, for I stood up’ as her “marble feet” make her cold and immovable resulting in capture. In the poem ‘I felt a Funeral, in my Brain’ the “Boots of Lead” effect the speaker as their repetitive sound damages her soul. However, ‘There’s a certain slant of light’ has the most evident use of pain; the speaker is “seal[ed]” by the “light” as it brings despair and internal scares upon her.