Depersonalisation and the Poetics of Trauma in Dickinson’s 'After great pain, a formal feeling comes'

Abstract

This essay involves a close reading of Emily Dickinson’s ‘After great pain, a formal feeling comes’ paying particular attention to its presentation of trauma in relation dissociation and vice versa.This is primarily achieved through the author’s analysis of structure and form, taking a somewhat psychological lens in their dissection of Dickinson’s lyric, arguing that through the use of defamiliarisation in form and meter, Dickinson achieves a cathartic representation of the alienation of the self and a complete paralysis through grief.