"Pain -- Has an Element of Blank --"
Pain -- has an Element of Blank --When it begun -- or if there were
A time when it was not --
It has no Future -- but itself --
Its Infinite contain
Its Past -- enlightened to perceive
New Periods -- of Pain.
Analysis/Comment
According to Emily Dickinson, pain is an element that, is difficult to interpret, and can not be substituted by any other word. Pain is a complex element that has “no Future”; in other words, pain is never going to change, it will always remain the same. Its “Past” (since it continues infinitely like it always did) is going to keep being the same “Pain” (Line 2 Stanza 2).
This poem clearly demonstrates a big part of the poet’s life and experience that majorly involves pain. Emily Dickinson explains that pain has an element of blank because it is caused by several other dynamic forces such as time, history and (to a certain extent) perception. However the poet does not permit the word pain to be substituted by any other words.
*Reminder: Emily Dickinson uses dashes to create personification.
From Emily Dickinson’s biography, one can realize that pain has been part of the poet’s life for a long period and that probably also caused her depression. It is an advantage for her to write a poem on pain, since Dickinson herself experienced and became familiar with it. I agree perfectly with the author that pain has no beginning or end, and that it is a pure element that can be a result of many reasons but it’s identity will always remain the same. This poem sounds like a diary of the poet since it contains lots of suffering and pain.
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