The Structure And Diction In 'After Great Pain' By Emily Dickinson

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The poem, “After Great Pain”, by Emily Dickinson, is one that conveys an inner struggle of emotion and the process that a person goes through after experiencing suffering or pain. Through this poem, Dickinson utilizes physical reactions to allude to the emotional pain that can make people feel numb and empty. Included in this poem is an array of literary devices, such as oxymorons, similes, and personification. These devices help show how death and grief can be confronted, whether it be by giving into the pain or by regaining emotional strength, letting go, and moving on with life. As we work on the project, we discuss multiple aspects of the poem and how the structure and diction alludes the meaning of the poem.
In the first stanza, Emily Dickinson describes emotional turmoil as a precedent to physical numbness. Dickinson implies how someone can feel that all days are the same when they are overwhelmed with emotions, especially dismal and grueling ones. This imagery can best be seen when she relates the feeling of loneliness and isolation to being concealed “like Tombs”. The speaker 's emotional numbness slowly infects the heart and causes it to become distant and hardened toward …show more content…

It is distinguished by its comparison and reference towards physical pain in order to portray the pain associated with emotion. Like many of Dickinson’s other poems, it leaves the reader uncomfortable and lacks closure due to its notable use of dashes. This portrays how she essentially leaves it up to the reader to decide what will result in attempting to deal with and possibly overcome pain. As Dickinson, like every other living human being, has a certain sense of uncertainty in regards to what exists after this death, she makes her uncertainty apparent throughout the poem, especially at its conclusion of “the letting

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