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发帖数: 558 | 1 Pain has an element of blank
Emily Dickinson
Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there was
A time when it was not.
It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.
痛把心掏空；
它不能记得
何时开始， 可否有过
它不存在的一刻。
痛没有未来，
它无尽的领地包容
它的过去， 唤醒去体味
又一轮的痛。
Dickinson is speaking about two aspects of pain, its timelessness and its
irresistible dominance. The poem is structured by references to time (the
past in lines 1-4; the future, line 5; the past, the present, and the future
, lines 6-8).
Paraphrase
Lines 1-4: Pain is so overwhelming that it blots out our sense of ever
having experienced anything but pain; the sufferer remembers the past as
having consisted only of pain.
Lines 5-8: In the grip of pain, we see only continuing and relentless pain
in the future; our lives and identities have become consumed by pain. Our
lives, we ourselves, are only pain.
Impersonality
I paraphrased the poem from the point of view of the person suffering the
pain ("we," "our," "sufferer"). Dickinson's poem, however, presents pain
impersonally; the poem personifies the pain, so that the experience is
presented from pain's view. Not once is the person feeling the pain referred
to; not once is or her point of view presented. Dickinson writes from the
perspective of pain to make important points about pain.
Intense pain so dominates the individual that it displaces everything else
in her life, including identity. If all a person is aware of is pain, then
in a sense, that person has become the pain. Pain has depersonalized her, i.
e., it has taken away her individuality or identity. To express this
depersonalizing consequence of pain, Dickinson uses only the impersonal
pronouns "it" and "its," and she presents the experience from the point of
view of pain. It is pain which "cannot recollect," "has no future," and is "
enlightened to perceive." If pain has become the identity of the sufferer,
are "it" and the the person suffering pain the same? Could the line "it
cannot recollect" also mean, by implication, "the sufferer cannot recollect
”?
The depersonalization of the sufferer is so complete that she has no other
feelings; thus, the poem contains no words which express emotion.
Nevertheless, under the chillingly objective surface of the poem, are
feelings implied? Do you as the reader feel the sufferer's hopeless
resignation or despair?
Phrasing
The "element of blank" (line 1) describes how pain clears or empties life of
other experience. We are aware only of pain, as the word "infinite" (line 6
) suggests.
"Enlightened" (line 7) is ironic. Enlightenment is insight which enlarges
our intellectual or spiritual understanding or enhances our knowledge. The
enlightenment which pain brings is the realization that the future holds
more and still more pain. Is this an enlightenment we would gladly do
without?
"New periods of pain" (line 8) seems to contradict the idea of unbroken
continuity in lines 1-7, but this is probably not meant literally, unless we
assume one "period" to be followed immediately by another "period." Or does
this phrase mean that pain succeeds pain, without stopping, just as one
period of time succeeds another without interruption. How do you read this
line?
Sound
Line 1 opens with two one-syllable words, both of which are accented. This
emphasis opens the poem with a strong assertion.
The repetition of sounds subtly emphasizes meaning and connects significance
. This repetition is heard by the ear, even if you are not conscious of the
sounds as you read. Note the repetition of a consonant in the following
lines: line 1, element, blank; line 2, It cannot recollect' lines 5, 6:
future, itself, infinite; lines 7, 8: past, perceive, periods, pain. There
is only one exact end-rhyme in this poem: "contain" (line 6) and "pain" (
line 8). This fact gives special emphasis to these words and the ideas they
convey. Is there any reason why Dickinson might want to emphasize and/or
connect these words/meanings? or has she made a mistake?
Connection to Other Poems
You are probably noticing that the same concerns and even language appear in
numerous poems. For example, a basic idea in this poem appears in "I
measure every grief I meet"; it restates the idea of timelessness ("I could
not tell the date of mine / It feels so old a pain"). She also uses certain
words repeatedly, though not necessarily in the same way. In "I measure
every grief," she uses "enlighten" to mean being enlightened to a larger
pain. | M********c
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