As Imperceptibly as Grief
Emily Dickinson grew up in a conventionally-religious home, and her poetry strongly reflects both the rhythms of the Protestant hymns she heard each Sunday in church and the importance of her religious faith. This can easily be seen in her poem "As Imperceptibly As Grief." Emily Dickinson is known for her rigid form of rhyme and meter, she accepted these limitations as she accepted the many other limitations of her reclusive life, and worked within their constraints. This produced a style that was at once immediately identifiable as Dickinson's, and yet capable of endless variation. Dickinson inherited a fascination with the subject of death, but brought its huge sweeping dramatics down to her world of the concrete. In this poem she examines the end of summer in terms of loss, comparing it indirectly to that sense of regret and abandonment one feels when one suddenly realizes that a beloved friend or acquaintance is forever gone. Again, this is not presented with excessive dramatics, but it happens, as she points out, "Too imperceptib[ly] . . . to seem like Perfidy." The words she uses in this poem, as is characteristic of her, are elaborate and delicate, carefully chosen and carefully arrange
Dickinson capitalizes her nouns throughout this poem. Dickinson's work seems somehow antiquated, almost quaint. That, and the dashes she utilizes as punctuation, has led many casual readers to dismiss her poetry as the product of an old maid obsessed with religion and death, and to fail to see the great insight contained within. She is uniquely able to carry a tremendous amount of meaning -- and multiple layers of meaning -- in a very few words. These last four lines are where the "Summer Guest" makes it final exit. Without any assistance of wing or keel "she" has left. She has made her light escape. It is not clear where it is that the light really escapes. However it is loosely stated that it escapes into the beautiful. It is this last line that I find to be very liberating. The use of the word "escape" insinuates that it was being held back somehow. The feeling of freedom that this poem's ending gives is great. Everyone likes beautiful things and to be liberated and escape into this beauty is really appealing. d. "Perfidy", meaning the betrayal of faith or a trust, is an unusual word. Like "sequestered" and "distilled" and "imperceptible" and "lapsed", "perfidy" requires careful enunciation; it is impossible to say in a rush, the way one would read a more dramatic poem. Thus the diction of the poem itself dictates that it should be read quietly and w
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Approximate Word count = 927
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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