by Emily Dickinson
There's a certain Slant of light,
There's a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons-
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes-
Heavenly Hurt, it gives us -
We can find no scar,
But internal difference -
Where the Meanings, are -
None may teach it – Any –
'Tis the seal Despair –
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air –
When it comes, the Landscape listens –
Shadows – hold their breath –
When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
On the look of Death –
Christine's original comments:
ReplyDeleteA feeling during blue times (winter afternoons), “that oppresses” a general feeling of depression that is like the feeling, based on no thoughts, that music gives you (funeral music?)
“heavenly hurt” = is this a good hurt? Or a hurt from heaven that hurts but benefits? An important hurt, that is actually benign? “We can find no scar meaning 1: it is a completely invisible feeling, no one would know except the feeler or meaning 2: it is a new wound? No scar yet? (medical person here). Or it never scars over and stays fresh, a constant feeling no one can cover up.
Each person must come up with their own meaning, it is a universal feeling, an important one, just comes out of nowhere.
The landscape meaning one’s body? Then the darkest parts of you wait, until it goes away, and then one forgets, like one forgets death
Louise's original comments:
I think there is a difference between the sounds in the cathedral, because "heft" and how it oppresses bears a certain weight that feels clearly pejorative. But then the heavenly hurt does seem kind of positive, like you say Christine, also because in the poem it is a gift. This might be Dickinson revealing her personal experience of the church?
I'm confused by "where the Meanings are - " what are the meanings? I guess she is also confused about the space between the heavy oppressive church and the lessons from heaven. Is the fact that Meanings is capitalized important here? maybe.
In the third stanza I think that by "seal" and "imperial" she implies that everyone has to deal with this, that it is sent from above... but then maybe she isn't making such a distinction between the church and god (and maybe that's just my own interpretation?)
In the tarot, the air element is about communication, the mental sphere, as well as power play, intelligence, politics, all the structures and ideologies that are achieved through language. That's what I think of when she says "sent to us of the air"
So I totally agree about the landscape being the body, and how for so long the mind has ruled over the body, especially for women in Dickinson's time. The shadows I interpret as the darknesses that came up upon witnessing the winter light through the window - they are shut up by the church ideologies and the body is forced to deal with it. That's why it holds its breath. And when "it goes" the body feels more alone than ever, having listened to the messages, which perhaps were never from god in the first place but were from a more institutional dogmatism, and then been abandoned by them. Although she says distance, she can still see death, and I think the implication is that she was closer to death than she was before. So I don't see a forgetting, I see a sadder figure than the one who was simply sad at a glimpse of winter light - usually a welcome sight at that time of year.