Subject English Dickinson, Pain has an element Essay Example For Students

Subject: English Dickinson, Pain has an element Essay Subject: English Dickinson, Pain has an element of blankAlthough cryptic in language and structure, Dickinson gives her work aninstinctually vivid sense of emotion. Her examination of the feeling ofpain focuses in on only a few of the subtler nuances of pain that areintegral parts of the experience. She draws in on an Element of Blankthat she introduces in her opening line. In exploring pain, she proposesthat this blankness is a self-propagating force that is subject to thedynamic forces of time, history and perception, but only to an extent. Her first mention of Pain in the first line does not distinguish thisparticular emotion as being of a particular brand of pain. She substitutesno other words for pain. By suggesting no other words for pain, shechooses the most semantically encompassing term for the emotion. She thusgives her work the responsibility of examining the collective, generalbreadth of pain. Her alternatives offer connotations that color her usageof Pain: the sense of loss in grief and mourning or the sense of pityin anguish and suffering. She chooses the lexical vagueness of Painto embrace all these facets of the emotion. We will write a custom essay on Subject: English Dickinson, Pain has an element specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In introducing the Element of Blank, it becomes the context that she thusexamines pain. The exact context of Blank possesses a vagueness thatsuggests its own inadequacy of solid definition. Perhaps this sense ofindefinition is the impression that this usage of Blank is meant toinspire. In this context, this blankness is suggestive of a quality ofempty unknowingness that is supported by the next few lines: It cannotrecollect When it begun. This inability to remember raises a major problemwith respect to the nature of Pain; namely whether Dickinson is choosingto personify Pain by giving it a human quality like memory, or is in factnegating the humanity of making it unable to remember. Several lines below,she suggests that Pain does in fact possess some sort of limited sentientability in recognizing Its Past enlightened to perceive. It is verypossible that it is the Pain that is being enlightened or perceiving. These conscious acts of giving Pain some sort of capacity of awarenesspersonify Pain to some extent. In continuation of Pains inability to remember, She proceeds, It cannotrecollect When it begun or if there were A time when it was not.Pains inability to recollect further personifies it by also making itsubject to the human ability to forget. Dickinson thus not only personifiesPain, but makes it subject to the advance of time. This temporalplacement of Pain, establishes Pain within the context of theprogression of time by giving it a Past, a Future, and presumably, aPresent. Although she places Pain within the context of time, sheindicates it is not limited by time. Pains inability to remember its ownorigins strongly suggests an extreme span of time since its inception. Thiscoupled with Dickinsons claim that It has no Future but itself, andthat Its Infinite contain Its Past indicates some connection with theeternal. Here, the Infinite suggests not only the infinite sense ofeternity, but a more spatial sense of the cosmos and the universality of theexperience of Pain.This use of the future also serves the notion that Pain leads to morePain, continuing in Dickinsons reference to Its Past enlightened toperceive New Periods of Pain. In this one stanza, she invokes the futureand the past, maintaining that both are key to a cyclicality, where thePain of the past, gives rise to the Pain of the present and future. .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b , .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b .postImageUrl , .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b , .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b:hover , .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b:visited , .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b:active { border:0!important; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b:active , .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u346bcf4d0af16b9e2b72c594d5050c4b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Yellow Wallpaper Setting Sample EssayThat Pain contains an Infinite within itself supports this notion ofPain being cyclical, as it can thus remain dynamic yet eternal. That itis enlightened to perceive New Periods of the sensation of Pain suggeststhat a mechanism of this self-propagation involves the acknowledgement ofpast periods of Pain. The enlightenment thus becomes some sort ofimpetus for the propagation of the Pain experience as it continues fromthe past into the future. To highlight this sense of cyclicality, Dickinson completes the poem withthe first word: Pain. She completes the cycle of her poem in itsreiteration, giving it closure, but at the same time, reconnecting it backto its beginning. In doing so, she almost invites the reader to reread thepoem, drawing the reader back in to reconsider her meaning. In much thesame way, it is this reexamination that Its Past enlightened suggests. Enlightenment comes from some degree of analysis, and is therefore relatedto the reevaluation of the poem that Dickinson invites. Dickinsons description of Pain as having an Infinite also suggests aspatial expansiveness in addition to a temporal one. This sense of Painbeing limitless echoes the broad definition of Pain that she suggests byonly using the one term for the experience, and using it only twice. Withinthe context of the poem, Pain is her only subject, and thus encompassesall as far as the work is concerned. The limitlessness of Painsexistence within time lends to its sense of overwhelming size whenconsidered Infinite. It thus suggests an almost tangible existence ofPain as a corporeal entity, spanning towards every horizon. This physicalperception of Pain is not quite palpable due to its lack of physicaldescription in the poem. All that is known about it is its outstandingsize. That sense of size alone lends some sort of semi-perceptible physicalweight to the description. In her sole focus on Pain within the context of the Element of Blank,Dickinson chooses such a narrow focus that it is difficult to claim she isputting forth a definitive, encompassing definition of pain. Instead, shewrites about a vague, undefined experience called Pain that she leaves thereader to define. Note that a semantic distinction must be made betweenpain and the notion of Pain that Dickinson chooses to use. She does notdefine whether her notion of pain is emotional, spiritual or physical, orperhaps a combination of all three. Her treatment of Pain as asemi-cognizant entity, infinite but somehow limited, makes it an abstract,unique concept that necessitates its distinction as Pain.She does describe Pain within the context of the nature of its being. Bydenoting its infinite nature, she also proposes a capacity toself-propagate. However, she becomes unclear in defining the limitations ofthese abilities. She explains that it has existed for so long, that it hasno memory of its i nception, but it is unclear whether that is the fault ofPains inability to remember or Pains infinite history. Dickinson alsoindicates that Pain already has a fated future, one that includes onlymore Pain. Despite its infinite nature temporally and spatially, Painis not infinite in a sentient sense, as it is limited by its lack ofperception and by the passage of time. Dickinson leaves much unsaid about the experience and nature of Pain. Shemakes no tangible references about the circumstances of her Pain, leavingthe reader to deal only with a indeterminate, abstract notion to relate to. In only relating the Element of Blank to its place temporally andspatially, her only hypothesis about the mechanism of Pain concerns itscyclicality. Her sole focus on this structure avoids discussion of anyother aspect of the experience or sensation of Pain.-another imperative from your friendly local interplanetary Imperial regime-sulik