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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AFTER GREAT PAIN A FORMAL FEELING COMES by EMILY DICKINSON

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

Last Line: First — Chill — then Stupor — then the letting go
Subject(s): GRIEF; PAIN;
After great pain, a formal feeling comes -
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs -
The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,
And Yesterday, or Centuries before?

The Feet, mechanical, go round -
A Wooden Way
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought -
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone -

This is the Hour of Lead -
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow -
First - Chill - then Stupor - then the letting go


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