After great pain, a formal feeling comes --

1. This week on MOCK THE WEEK: Emily Dickinson! After great pain, a formal feeling comes -- 28th January 2014

2. After great pain, a formal feeling comes --The Nerves sit ceremonious, like TombsThe stiff Heart questions, was it He, that bore,And Yesterday, or Centuries before?The Feet, mechanical, go round --Of Ground, or Air, or Ought --A Wooden wayRegardless grown,A Quartz contentment, like a stone --This is the Hour of Lead --Remembered, if outlived,As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow --First -- Chill -- then Stupor -- then the letting go – 

3. It sounds as if we are joining Dickinson’s feeling AFTER something has happened. To what type of pain do we think she may be referring? What does the word ‘formal’ suggest? There is no sense of panic or trauma as a result of the pain. After great pain, a formal feeling comes --The Nerves sit ceremonious, like TombsThe stiff Heart questions, was it He, that bore,And Yesterday, or Centuries before? The heart is personified – it questions the pain. When did he experience it? Was it real? Is the heart trying to link its suffering to Christ? The confused syntax does not help our understanding! The body parts are listed individually (synecdochally) rather than as one entity – gives the impression that there is little sense of unity. The way the nerves sit perhaps suggest a funeral.

4. Note the internal rhyme. This almost replaces the rhyme at the end of the lines which loses it shape in this verse. There’s a sense that the body responds without feeling – the response is ‘mechanical’. The aimlessness links to the mourners in ‘I felt a funeral…’ The Feet, mechanical, go round --Of Ground, or Air, or Ought --A Wooden wayRegardless grown,A Quartz contentment, like a stone -- The ‘wooden’ way perhaps suggests a coffin? ‘Quartz’ and ‘stone’ suggest stillness or possibly death. ‘Contentment’ almost suggests an unlikely serenity. Could the stone be a tombstone?

5. All reactions so far lead to this moment – the capitalisation emphasises the importance/ paralysis. The mind has reached this point where it is weighed down. There is nothing left but this heavy numbness. This experience is never forgotten even if the body eventually recovers from it. This is the Hour of Lead --Remembered, if outlived,As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow --First -- Chill -- then Stupor -- then the letting go –  This is the first mention of the whole person yet they are experience a different stillness. This links the ‘Hour of Lead’ to the experience of freezing to death.

6. Summary • Overall, she leaves us with a paradox – the eventual result of great pain is no pain. • The concluding complex metaphor ‘This is the Hour of Lead’ leads to the conclusion – the overwhelming journey to ‘no pain’ is comparable to freezing to death. • The chill is the pain that has preceded the feeling described, the stupor is the emotional response and the letting go is what comes next – a move from the ‘formal feeling’ to ‘letting go’ of it. • The last line shows Dickinson’s use of the dashes – they slow down our reading as if we are re-enacting the freezing to death.

7. THEMES What themes can we find so far in Dickinson’s poetry? Can you find lines from different poems that you feel go together?