Poetry - As Imperceptibly As Grief Flashcards
Who wrote As imperceptibly as grief
Emily Dickinson
As imperceptibly as grief context
Written in 19th Century.
Writer was a private person who led a solitary life. she had a strong religious faith.
She was an undiscovered poet at her time.
As imperceptibly as grief form
4 quatrains which track the change in transition of seasons.
Mixture of enjambment and dashes signifying the speaker coming to terms with loss and accepting it is part of a
bigger existence.
Comparisons for as imperceptibly as grief
To Autumn - passing of time
‘the summer lapsed away’
Compares changing of season to how grief gradually leaves you.
Subtlety of loss and grief.
‘imperceptible at last/to seem like Perfidy’
Changing of the season is so slow that it does not seem like betrayal. like the acceptance stage of grief.
Perdify - state of being deceitful.
“Quietness distilled”
metaphor. suggests purity.
Brings about a tone of peace an tranquility, like when you move away from the sadness of grief and into acceptance.
‘Nature spending time with herself/Sequestered Afternoon - ‘
Dashes - create break in lines, break in fluency
Personification - creates calmness, supporting the gentle, calm tone of the poem.
‘foreign shone’
Trees lose their leaves due to colder seasons.
Suggests time changing, there is a difference in atmosphere due to the temperature and light
Like feeling of change after losing a loved one it feels foreign and alien without their presence
‘Guest, that would be gone -‘
Personifies summer as a leaving visitor but we want her to stay, much like we want our loved ones to stay with us, even though we know that they will leave
Hyphens slow pace of poem - melancholy effect
‘our summer’
Inclusive pronoun - suggests a strong connection with season, almost as if it were a relative
Summer will come back at end of spring - implies that everyone misses summer
‘light escape’
sense if the figure of summer slipping away slowly and peacefully. like a quiet and peaceful death.
Word play - summer left unexpectedly
‘into the beautiful’
away from earth there is another beautiful place. summer will be back. it is always there somewhere in the background. Heavenly connotations, relating the the idea of death and grief.
Beautiful suggests how grief and feeling of loss would transcend, like how Summer did - grief will subtly disappear
