Poem 303 Summary

Emily Dickinson’s poem, #303, focuses on the experience which comes after “great pain”. On a more complex level, the poem illustrates how catastrophic events have the ability to numb its bearers. Dickinson personifies the nerves by stating that they “sit ceremonious, like Tombs”. Dickinson’s reference to the speaker’s nerves sitting like tombs brings a supreme degree of deadness (quietness, stillness). Like tombs, which are unmovable and sit while the world moves around them, the speaker’s nerves sit deadly while life moves on. Likewise, a tomb represents the remains of a person. By Dickinson personifying the nerves to sit like a gravestone, she shows how the speaker has become the remains of themselves. The speaker is no longer their usual self; she has become a stone version of themselves. This personification shows how shattering events have the ability to numb and harm its bearers.

The imagery Dickinson uses also portrays how “great pain” has the ability to numb people. In the third line, Dickinson calls the heart “stiff” This shows how the heart is incapable of feeling emotions such as love and happiness after it endures calamitous trials. Moving into the second stanza, Dickinson calls the feet moving in a wooden way. Wood is heavy and cumbersome and this imagery conveys the struggle

Dickinson only uses commas and a single question mark throughout the entire poem. This shows how after tragedies people are left with unanswered questions. People find comfort in knowing. Asking and asking questions without receiving answers pulls people into a deeper feeling of sadness and since there are no answers to find comfort in, a feeling of helplessness develops and paralyzes people. By Dickinson using this technique along with the personification of the nerves and imagery, she shows how “after great pain” a person can go numb to emotions, hope, and eventually the