Light is often associated with truth, shining through the darkness, breaking through the lies to show the facts behind it. Light will illuminate what is really there, ridding you of the uncertainty and doubt that the darkness gives you. In Emily Dickinson’s poem, “There’s a certain slant of light”, light is thought of as just that. In this poem, light comes in through windows, exposing the truth that cannot be seen when the window is closed. The light pushes away the darkness, causing the shadows to run away and flee. And although the light is there, it is a blinding light. For a human who has lived their whole life without this light, it blinds them and hurts them to look at it. On the speaker’s deathbed, she sees the light that she has longed
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The caesura in her poem creates a pause similar to the pauses near to death when someone finds it hard to say the next words. In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker says that “That oppresses, like the Heft of Cathedral Tunes –” [lines 3-4]. The caesura aren’t occurring too often and they are equally spread apart in the first stanza, indicating that the speaker is approaching her death. As the poem continues, the caesura continue, as Dickinson writes that “None may teach it – Any –” [line 9]. In the third stanza, caesura occur more, they are more frequent, with twice as many caesura as the first stanza, and their appearance is more scattered. This shows that nearing the end, the speaker is closing in on death, having to pause more, indicating how close she is to death. In the final stanza, there are more caesura than before and their occurrence is once again even more scattered, centered in single areas. As the final stanza reads, “When it comes, the Landscape listens – Shadows – hold their breath –” [line 13-14]. This increase in frequency of caesura show that the speaker is about to die, and is approaching death and coming closer throughout the entire …show more content…
The first occurrence of this religious diction is in the first stanza, when it mentions the “Heft of Cathedral Tunes” [lines 3-4]. This comparison to Cathedral tunes gives us the image of the speaker being in a church, oppressed by the music of the organ in the cathedral as she is oppressed by the light that comes in through her window. The second occurrence of spiritual diction is found in the second stanza, when Dickinson writes that the light brings about a “Heavenly Hurt” [line 5]. This Heavenly Hurt means that the hurt comes down from heaven, from God himself. God has sent this light down and this truth down to visit the speaker right before her death. This line insinuates that in the very last moments of her life, she is visited by God’s light. It is heavenly but it also hurts her for it is a blinding light, for it is a light that she has never seen her entire life. The final use of spiritual diction is at the end of the third stanza, when Dickinson says that the light is “Sent us of the Air –” [line 12]. This line is another affirmation that the light and the truth comes from God above. The light comes from the air, another way of saying that it comes from heaven. This truth that comes from heaven is a final revelation given to the speaker about the truth of her religion and what is to happen to her
The caesura in her poem creates a pause similar to the pauses near to death when someone finds it hard to say the next words. In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker says that “That oppresses, like the Heft of Cathedral Tunes –” [lines 3-4]. The caesura aren’t occurring too often and they are equally spread apart in the first stanza, indicating that the speaker is approaching her death. As the poem continues, the caesura continue, as Dickinson writes that “None may teach it – Any –” [line 9]. In the third stanza, caesura occur more, they are more frequent, with twice as many caesura as the first stanza, and their appearance is more scattered. This shows that nearing the end, the speaker is closing in on death, having to pause more, indicating how close she is to death. In the final stanza, there are more caesura than before and their occurrence is once again even more scattered, centered in single areas. As the final stanza reads, “When it comes, the Landscape listens – Shadows – hold their breath –” [line 13-14]. This increase in frequency of caesura show that the speaker is about to die, and is approaching death and coming closer throughout the entire …show more content…
The first occurrence of this religious diction is in the first stanza, when it mentions the “Heft of Cathedral Tunes” [lines 3-4]. This comparison to Cathedral tunes gives us the image of the speaker being in a church, oppressed by the music of the organ in the cathedral as she is oppressed by the light that comes in through her window. The second occurrence of spiritual diction is found in the second stanza, when Dickinson writes that the light brings about a “Heavenly Hurt” [line 5]. This Heavenly Hurt means that the hurt comes down from heaven, from God himself. God has sent this light down and this truth down to visit the speaker right before her death. This line insinuates that in the very last moments of her life, she is visited by God’s light. It is heavenly but it also hurts her for it is a blinding light, for it is a light that she has never seen her entire life. The final use of spiritual diction is at the end of the third stanza, when Dickinson says that the light is “Sent us of the Air –” [line 12]. This line is another affirmation that the light and the truth comes from God above. The light comes from the air, another way of saying that it comes from heaven. This truth that comes from heaven is a final revelation given to the speaker about the truth of her religion and what is to happen to her