As Imperceptibly As Grief Flashcards
Who wrote ‘As Imperceptibly as Grief’?
Emily Dickinson
Context on Emily Dickinson
American Romanticist Poet
Birthplace: Amherst, Massachusetts
1830-1886
Born and Lived in ‘Homestead’ Main Street for all but 15yrs of her life
Spent time writing in her bedroom and rarely ever went out after 1865
Poem was written around 1865
Where was this found: ‘Mother’s dying almost stunned my spirit…She slipped from our fingers like a flake gathered by the wind and is now part of the drift called “ the infinite” We don’t know where she is, though so many tell us
From Emily Dickinson’s letters in 1882
What is the poem literally about?
The poem begins by describing how summer comes to an end so gradually that you don’t notice when it finishes. The end of summer represents the end of grief, speaker suggests the the grieving process ends so subtly it creates another sense of loss
What is the overall mood?
The main feelings conveyed in the poem are:
Loss: loss of summer, grief caused by death of a loved one, loss of grief
Comfort: Speaker seems to find grief comforting as it connects her to the person she has lost. Sense of reluctance in letting go and move on however the final escape of summer suggests her grieving process has to end.
What techniques dominate the poem?
Form, Structure, Language of time, Light imagery, Contradictory images
What do you notice about the form and structure?
form- The poem’s rhythm mirrors the pattern of everyday speech, making it sound like the narrator’s honest thoughts. The Poet uses long dashes rather than conventional punctuation to create long pauses and enhance the poem’s slow, reflective mood
structure- The poem is a series of natural metaphors which reveal the speakers feeling about the grief fading gradually. The use of single stance adds to the sense of gradual change. Tone becomes more desicive after line 13,suggesting she is coming to terms with the fact that grief ends
What would you identify as the central theme of the poem?
-Passage of time
-Death and Loss
What does imperceptible mean?
Something that is so small it is not notices.
Synonyms: slight, subtle.
Eg. ‘The disease develops gradually and imperceptibly’
Line in poem: ‘ As imperceptibly as Grief’ / ‘Too imperceptible at last’
What does ‘lapsed’ mean?
No longer valid
Synonyms: expired, voided, terminated
Eg. ‘A lapsed Catholic’
Line in poem: ‘ The summer lapsed away’
What does ‘Perfidy’ mean?
The state of being deceitful and untrustworthy
Synonyms: Treachery, duplicity
Eg. ‘It was an example of his perfidy’
Line in poem: ‘To seem like Perfidy’
What does ‘distilled’ mean?
Having been shortened so that the most important aspects remain
Synonyms: shortened
Eg. ‘the report is a distilled version of the main accounts’
Line in poem: ‘ A quietness distilled’
What does sequestered mean?
Isolated and hidden away
Synonyms: secluded, cloistered
Eg. A wild sequestered spot’
Line in poem: Sequestered Afternoon
How to compare ‘ As imperceptibly as Grief’ to other poems with the theme of Passage of time
As Imperceptibly as Grief:
- The personified summer’s “light escape” is a metaphor for the disappearance of the speaker’s grief over time. The seasons only last for a certain time before they change, which could suggest that the amount of time a person can spend grieving is also limited.
- Different images of light (such as “Twilight”, “Dusk” and the “foreign” light of morning) remind the reader that day and night are part of a natural cycle. These images reflect aspects of the speaker’s she might be suggesting that life and death are part of a natural cycle too.
Ozymandias:
- Ozymandias is increasingly forgotten about as time passes. His statue has disintegrated over time, leaving a “shattered visage” and “trunkless legs”. This emphasises that Ozymandias’s rule was only temporary, and hints that his legacy will eventually be lost completely.
- The setting of the poem is only described as “an antique land”, and there’s no information about the speaker or the “traveller” they talk to, which gives the poem a sense of timelessness. It suggests that the passage of time, and the decay this causes, is happening constantly.
Afternoons
- The poem is set as “Summer is fading”, which reflects the transitional moment the women are at in their lives. Summer represents their finest days, while the arrival of autumn has negative connotations for their future. It suggests the women’s lives are “fading” - they’re losing their vibrancy.
-The speaker makes the observation that the women’s “beauty has thickened”. The word “thickened” suggests their looks have deteriorated, revealing that time has passed. This implies that youth is short-lived - the speaker’s slightly cruel tone may be reflecting the harsh nature of time.
To Autumn:
-Autumn is praised for filling “all fruit with ripeness to the core” in the first stanza by the speaker, who later describes how “the light wind lives or dies”. The images of life and death show that time moves in a circular way.
-An image of “gathering swallows” shows that time’s cyclical nature provides a reason to be hopeful. Swallows move with the seasons - despite their departure in the winter, they will return in the spring.
How to compare ‘ As imperceptibly as Grief’ to other poems with the theme of Death and Loss
A Wife in London
1) Loss is presented as something unavoidable in war through the title of the first part, “I-The Tragedy”. In classical tragedies, the main character’s suffering is often presented as inevitable, so the reader of the poem might anticipate the worst right from the start.
2) The poet uses dashes to emphasise the wife’s struggle to comprehend her loss and begin grieving. It suggests that even if a person knows that they may lose a loved one, it’s still difficult to deal with.
Mametz Wood
1) The speaker implies that the soldiers in the poem died a painful death as their bodies are “a broken mosaic of bone”. Their deaths haven’t been recognised properly - their body parts are scattered across fields and their efforts in the war go unremembered.
2) The poem shows how war causes lasting pain on a large scale. The land is “working a foreign body to the surface”, showing that recovery is an ongoing process.
3) Discovering the soldiers’ bodies is an opportunity to remember their pain and sacrifice.
…or they can be comforting
The Soldier
1) The speaker presents death as peaceful and idyllic, which contrasts with the painful deaths of many soldiers during World War One. He associates death with being able to give something back to England, since it’s given him so much.
2) Death is a way for the soldier to become closer to God, the “eternal mind”, and could also provide a release from the pain he’s experiencing at war. The poem could be the soldier’s way of making death seem less daunting, as he believes it will lead to something better than he has now.
As Imperceptibly as Grief
1) Initially, the speaker struggles to accept the end of both summer and grief. She suggests it’s not “Perfidy” (betrayal), but she still feels a sense of loss. The personification of “Morning” as a “Guest” further develops this she found the guest (which may symbolise summer or grief) comforting.
2) In the final lines of the poem, however, the lack of dashes creates a less hesitant tone, suggesting the speaker is more sure of herself and has come to terms with the fact that she has finished grieving.
3) The poem therefore shows that feelings of loss aren’t entirely negative and can provide comfort,
but also that the end of grief is a positive change, even if it involves losing that sense of comfort.
