Unanyan 6
Lia Unanyan
English 301
Professor O'Brien
9/27/2016
Word Count: 1,548 The Nature of Pain and Pleasure Emily Dickinson's poems often expresses pain but it's relationship to pleasure. In Dickinson's descriptions of pain, she treats its effects on both the body and the soul. Her poems tell a great deal about her lifestyle, which was very secluded and withdrawn from society. Dickinson's disorder unduly influenced the themes of poetry such as pain and pleasure. Pleasure also plays a major role in her life by causing her to suffer years of pain, that is said in her poem "For each ecstatic instant". The nature of her bi polar disorder caused her to remain in her own world with her typical choices. The poems Dickinson …show more content…
In fact, in her poem "I Cannot Live With You" she states, "I could not die with you,”(Dickinson 13) referring this to someone that she loves, and knows they can't die together. The speaker implies that if she could stand by her loved one she would be happy wherever he stands at, "And I, could I stand by, And see you freeze, Without my right of frost, Death's privilege?” (Dickinson 17-20) references to his death would make her want to die, and if they aren't together after life she would look at her lover not Jesus. She tries to say she rather die with her lover, then be by herself with God. Dickinson explains that she would be in hell without her loved one, "And were you lost, I would be,"(Dickinson 37) this is relating her pleasure and pain by expressing her feeling in a way where her loved one doesn't go to heaven, she doesn't want to be there. And if she didn't be with him after death, anywhere her soul went is hell without him. Both of them can't live in the world together, and they can't die together, so they can't rise after death together. Emily Dickinson and her lover can only remain apart and communicate through the “oceans" (Dickinson 48) that separates them, remaining with the hopelessness and desperation of never being able to be with each other. Again, there is a possibility that they can be together if they cross …show more content…
So, in her poem "I Cannot Live With You" she tells us how she can't be with her loved one and it makes her feel anguish inside. Emily Dickinson gives us many imagery and various tones with her poems but in most cases she shows us her bi-polar disorder with depression. Looking back at the poems, Dickinson clearly shows us imagery and emotions through pain and pleasure by suffering with her bi-polar disorder. She compares and contrasts many times about pain and pleasure by pain being a consequence of her pleasure. In Emily Dickinson’s poem about pain, she expresses, “I shall know why, when time is over/ And I have ceased to wonder why” (Dickinson 1-2). The speaker emphasizes on pain, by giving us a sense of how Jesus suffered but she tells us death will be a release from pain. In Dickinson’s, "For each ecstatic instant,” she states, "For each ecstatic instant, we must an anguish pay,"(Dickinson 1-2) she conveys the pain as the outcome of pleasure. It also refers to all the happy, great moments in her life. And she means that it’s too good to be true to just have a wonderful moment and not to have a bad one later. Even though Dickinson was bi-polar, she had happiness by admitting she felt “ill and odd.” Her bi-polar disorder had caused her to feel many types of pains and emotions when she wrote her
Lia Unanyan
English 301
Professor O'Brien
9/27/2016
Word Count: 1,548 The Nature of Pain and Pleasure Emily Dickinson's poems often expresses pain but it's relationship to pleasure. In Dickinson's descriptions of pain, she treats its effects on both the body and the soul. Her poems tell a great deal about her lifestyle, which was very secluded and withdrawn from society. Dickinson's disorder unduly influenced the themes of poetry such as pain and pleasure. Pleasure also plays a major role in her life by causing her to suffer years of pain, that is said in her poem "For each ecstatic instant". The nature of her bi polar disorder caused her to remain in her own world with her typical choices. The poems Dickinson …show more content…
In fact, in her poem "I Cannot Live With You" she states, "I could not die with you,”(Dickinson 13) referring this to someone that she loves, and knows they can't die together. The speaker implies that if she could stand by her loved one she would be happy wherever he stands at, "And I, could I stand by, And see you freeze, Without my right of frost, Death's privilege?” (Dickinson 17-20) references to his death would make her want to die, and if they aren't together after life she would look at her lover not Jesus. She tries to say she rather die with her lover, then be by herself with God. Dickinson explains that she would be in hell without her loved one, "And were you lost, I would be,"(Dickinson 37) this is relating her pleasure and pain by expressing her feeling in a way where her loved one doesn't go to heaven, she doesn't want to be there. And if she didn't be with him after death, anywhere her soul went is hell without him. Both of them can't live in the world together, and they can't die together, so they can't rise after death together. Emily Dickinson and her lover can only remain apart and communicate through the “oceans" (Dickinson 48) that separates them, remaining with the hopelessness and desperation of never being able to be with each other. Again, there is a possibility that they can be together if they cross …show more content…
So, in her poem "I Cannot Live With You" she tells us how she can't be with her loved one and it makes her feel anguish inside. Emily Dickinson gives us many imagery and various tones with her poems but in most cases she shows us her bi-polar disorder with depression. Looking back at the poems, Dickinson clearly shows us imagery and emotions through pain and pleasure by suffering with her bi-polar disorder. She compares and contrasts many times about pain and pleasure by pain being a consequence of her pleasure. In Emily Dickinson’s poem about pain, she expresses, “I shall know why, when time is over/ And I have ceased to wonder why” (Dickinson 1-2). The speaker emphasizes on pain, by giving us a sense of how Jesus suffered but she tells us death will be a release from pain. In Dickinson’s, "For each ecstatic instant,” she states, "For each ecstatic instant, we must an anguish pay,"(Dickinson 1-2) she conveys the pain as the outcome of pleasure. It also refers to all the happy, great moments in her life. And she means that it’s too good to be true to just have a wonderful moment and not to have a bad one later. Even though Dickinson was bi-polar, she had happiness by admitting she felt “ill and odd.” Her bi-polar disorder had caused her to feel many types of pains and emotions when she wrote her