Pain in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson

Paper Summary:

In this paper, the writer compares three of Dickinson's poems about pain. It analyzes the reasons behind recurrent metaphors of death, cessation of time, and machinery in the three poems. The conclusion is that Dickinson uses such graphic metaphors to convey an intensity of pain that otherwise defies language. In other words, the speaker's response to pain in each of the three poems must be compared to something else, since that is the only way the reader can truly comprehend the extent of the pain suffered.

From the Paper:

"Emily Dickenson describes pain in several of her poems. Often it is implied that the source of the subject's pain is the death of a loved one, however in other poems the source is never explicitly given. Many of the poems dealing with pain employ similar metaphors to articulate the intensity of grief, whatever the cause. In several of her poems Dickenson repeats metaphors of death, cessation of time, and machines to convey the nature of pain and its paralyzing effect on one's life."

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