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Emily DickinsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Easter Wings” by George Herbert (1633)
Emily Dickinson presents pain as dignified and honorable, but the 17th-century metaphysical poet George Herbert depicts pain as mostly abject. His speaker describes themselves as “[d]ecaying more and more” (Line 3) and filled with “sicknesses and shame” (Line 12). As with Dickinson’s speaker, Herbert’s speaker connects pain to religion, with Herbert’s speaker believing that their pain will subside once they’re united with God. In the context of Herbert’s poem, “the letting go” (Line 13) occurs when a person separates themselves from the anguished human condition and connects themselves to a higher power.
“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” by Emily Dickinson (1896)
“After great pain” depicts pain as a process: There’s a dignified detachment, a daze, and then there’s letting go. In “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” Dickinson turns death into a similar process, featuring mourners, a service, a burial, and then the jarring experience of death. As with pain, Dickinson presents death as a “solitary” trial (Line 16). In “After great pain,” there are no people around to help the distressed person: The person must survive their trauma on their own. In “I felt a Funeral,” the mourners are oppressive and bring the dead person no comfort.
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
Emily Dickinson
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson
"Faith" is a fine invention
"Faith" is a fine invention
Emily Dickinson
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson
The Only News I Know
The Only News I Know
Emily Dickinson