Analysis of "After great pain, a formal feeling comes"
The central theme of this poem seems
to be the omniprescence and omnipotence of pain and how pain overwhelms an
individual to the point of unfeeling.
What the speaker says in the first stanza explains how after a time of
great pain or sorrow, an individual experiences a type of numbness. This
numbness is like the silence of a formal event, maybe an event such as a
funeral as suggested by the mention of "Tombs." This is the period in
the lifetime of pain in which the individual questions if this is truly happening
to them and also how long they've been experiencing the numbness. Also the
reader sees in the first stanza a type of dehumanization of the individual who
experiences the pain as exhibited by describing the individual in terms of
their nerves and heart. This use of synecdoche serves to exhibit how pain
overwhelms an individual.
In the second stanza the speaker
discusses how an individual attempts to function when they are overwhelmed by
pain. They go through life mechanically and with little purpose. They merely do
what is necessary to maintain a semblance of life though inside they feel very
little, as if they are dead. Inside they have "a Quartz contentment, like
a stone," and this implies that what they experience has numbed them inside.
This could also be another symbol of death because many tombs are made of
stone, and of course a tomb is a fairly formal setting.
The final stanza relates how an
individual feels after they have passed the period of numbness and pain. They
remember as a time of necessity and dread. The speaker calls it the "Hour
of Lead," and this name shows how an individual drags himself through this
time without feeling, much like a nonliving item. Only after a long time can a
person remember the experience and finally let go of the pain and become part
of the living once more.
To me, this poem seemed very accurate but to the point of exaggeration. Of course an individual experiences a type of uncaring following a traumatic event such as the death of a loved one but the speaker suggests that the person barely functions after the event. I've been through a few traumatic experiences but I am stronger because of them and I never truly became numb.
