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.
