There’s a certain slant of light
The light’s oppression is of a complicated nature. Use these definitions from the Emily Dickinson Lexicon to explore the ambiguities and nuances of her
poem. Is this poem simply about a ‘slant of light’, or is it a meditation on the complexities of religion, salvation and the human experience?
Stanza
Definitions
Alternative Interpretations
HEFT (N)
There's a certain slant of light,
Winter afternoons A. Majesty; grandeur; heaviness;
That oppresses, like the Heft
solemnity; soberness; melancholy;
Of cathedral tunes pensiveness; somberness;
ponderousness; heavyheartedness;
profound sadness.
B. Burden; millstone; weighty load; heavy
encumbrance; [fig.] torment; torture;
affliction; overwhelming trial; painful
suffering.
(NB: the verb means to ‘lift up’ or ‘heave’
and the noun also means a load bearing
part of a cathedral)
Heavenly hurt, it gives us –
We can find no scar,
But internal difference,
Where the meanings are -
INTERNAL (Adj)
A. Spiritual; mental; subjective; individual;
intimate.
B. Inward; personal; individual; introspective.
There’s a certain slant of light
None may teach it – Any –
'Tis the Seal Despair,An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air -
IMPERIAL (Adj)
A. Royal; aristocratic; majestic; [fig.]
clothed in purple.
B. Best; superior; greatest; supreme;
magnificent; most grand; especially
excellent; exceedingly fine; befitting an
emperor.
C. Masterful; commanding; imperious;
overwhelming.
D. Bold; skillful; powerful; effective;
vigorous; forceful; [fig.] unavoidable;
inescapable; undeniable; hard-hitting.
E. High; lofty; exalted; triumphant;
victorious; mighty; [fig.] heavenly;
celestial; visible in the sky above.
F. Heroic; noble; awe-inspiring.
G. Select; elect; chosen; [fig.] rare;
exceptional; extraordinary.
SEAL (N)
A. Retainer; protective label that shuts,
confines, or secures; marker that
fastens something private, secret,
sacred, or confidential; fastener for a
door or storehouse in the absence of
the lord; adhesive substance fixed on a
closed door so that one cannot open it
without the owner knowing; [fig.] divine
barrier on the door into the next life;
There’s a certain slant of light
means of access into the presence of
Deity; large stone that blocked the
entrance to Christ's tomb (see Matthew
27:60).
B. Ice; frozen organisms.
C. Token; emblem; symbol of a covenant;
official sign or ring; authoritative mark
or signature; signet ring of a monarch
for making covenants or finalizing legal
documents; mark or name on the
forehead of the righteous [allusion to
Revelation 7:31, 9:4, 14:1, 22:4.]
When it comes, the Landscape listens Shadows - hold their breath –
When it goes, 't is like the Distance
On the look of death -
SHADOW (N)
A. Patch of shade; image of partial
darkness caused by blocking the
sunlight.
B. Hint; warning sign; token of coming
darkness.
C. Phantom; ghost; spirit of a dead person
There’s a certain slant of light
Poetic Techniques
Find examples of the following techniques in the poem. How is your initial
reading/interpretation of the poem enhanced by considering the effect of these
techniques?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hyperbaton
Simile
Full rhyme (particularly the effect of the poem’s final full rhyme breath/death)
Slant rhyme
Oxymoron
Paradox
Parallel phrasing
Dashes
Synaesthesia
Pathetic Fallacy
There’s a certain slant of light
Debate Statements
The transformation that the slant of light
creates has an uplifting aspect to it
The poem ends in bleakness.
The poem is really a consideration of the human
condition and meaning in life.
There is a sense of awe about the light
There is no sense of consolation in this poem
There seems to be a comment about decay, like
the oblique passing light, in the world of man
Dickenson shows a preference for the sensuous
life on earth over some vague, unprovable and
distant theory of redemption and salvation.
The description of oblique and beautiful light
works in an existential way to stress the value
of man’s life on earth in the face of mutability,
at the expense of salvation and heaven.
The light gives us some sort of religious
experience
This poem is personal: it is a reflection of the
speaker’s own feelings
The poem moves from external to internal
conflict
Dickinson presents nature in a sacramental way.
Agree (1)
Disagree (5)
Comment
There’s a certain slant of light