As imperceptibly as grief Flashcards
Summary
-Emily Dickinson is comparing grief to summer and how they both inevitably and gradually leave but you become accustomed to them and want them to stay, so you can bask in the comfort of something so familiar without having to face the change and the unfamiliar happiness or absence of grief.
Context
- Dickinson was a highly introverted poet who rarely left her home.She rarely greeted visitors, was never marred and didn’t physically meet any friends.
- At 14 her second cousins died and this traumatised her, she became fascinated with illness, dying and death. She also lived very near a graveyard so was very familiar with death, many of her close friends were lost to war and her mum died six months before she wrote the poem.
Structure/form
- Single stanza, the lack of separate verses shows it as all interconnected and it gradually changes instead of a harsh break, reflecting the way grief gradually fades.
- Long dashes enhance slow mood and create pauses that reflect Dickinson’s honest thoughts. Lack of dashes in the final four lines, could imply that the speaker is mind is now clear and they have accepted the passing and finished grieving.
Themes
- Loss
- Time
‘As imperceptibly as Grief The Summer lapsed away - Too imperceptible at last To seem like Perfidy’
- The title foreshadows the theme of death and establishes its importance to the poem, creating a melancholic tone.
- Uses simile to compare grief and summer and how they both slip away unnoticed. Comparison initially seems strange and pessimistic as summer is considered bright and happy whilst grief is anything but, this creates quite a somber tone for the poem.
- ‘Lapsed away’ gently suggests grief will leave, can be considered comforting however Emily doesn’t find it so as we see at the end she wants to hold on to grief.
- Perfidy means betrayal. Like grief, summer leaves so gradually that it can’t be considered treachery, just something that happens and is accepted.
‘A Quietness distilled.’
-The word distilled suggests that grief is an intense and raw emotion
‘As Twilight long begun’
- The phrase ‘long begun’ suggests that grief feels like the start of twilight, when it’s dark and the sun’s setting. This feeling of darkness and gloominess lasts for a long time, you might think it’ll last forever.
- Twilight is quite dark, eerie and a state of ambiguity similar to the ending of grief. The time imagery of ‘Twilight’ could indicate the passing of time and therefore the cycles of life and death, which reinforces the idea that death and consequently grief is inevitable.
- ‘Twilight is a time of change which could be hopeful indicating that better things will come or discouraging as it could mean even more darkness might come.
‘Morning foreign shone’
-The ‘Morning’ refers to the ending of grief and the darkness, new light shining but it’s foreign as the grief has been felt for so long morning and light/happiness is unfamiliar.
‘A courteous, yet harrowing Grace, As Guest, that would be gone’
- The juxtaposition between harrowing and Grace implies that the morning coming and this new light, (the ending of grief ) is supposed to be pleasant and welcomed however it’s quite distressing and unsettling, as the speaker has become accustomed to their feelings of grief.
- Personifies morning as a guest that wants to leave, re-iterating the idea that time must pass and, no matter how much one might want to dwell
‘And thus’
-This indicates a shift from a contemplative metaphorical mood, to a more logical conclusive one. The mournful tone that was noticeable throughout, becomes more positive. The speaker has rationalised their grief and is ready to move on
‘Our summer made her light escape’
- In contrast to the start of the play, she uses the possessive pronoun ‘our’ to describe summer which denotes attachment and familiarity, showing she is quite accustomed to the grief. The plural pronoun also turns the grief into something shared and universal, suggesting Dickinson is now commenting on all grief.
- The phrase ‘light escape’ hints that she didn’t really wanted the summer (grief) to leave and she wanted to keep it trapped with her so she could experience the comfort in the familiar feeling of grief for a bit longer. She wanted to hold onto the grief.
‘Into the Beautiful.’
- The poem ends with a positive tone, possibly suggesting that the ending of grief is something positive, and to be celebrated.
- The only full stop used in the poem creates a sense of finality and further indicates that the speaker has accepted their loss and the grief is over.
Comparison
-To autumn
