Analysis of After great pain, a formal feeling comes -- (341)

Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)



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 --
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought --
A Wooden way
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 --


Scheme XXAA XXXBB XXCC
Poetic Form
Metre 1011010101 011111 0111011111 010110001 01010011 111111 0101 0101 01010101 1101011 01011 110100101 1111010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 449
Words 84
Sentences 2
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 5, 4
Lines Amount 13
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 112
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

25 sec read
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Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. more…

All Emily Dickinson poems | Emily Dickinson Books

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