There’s a certain slant of light
There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.
Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.
None may teach it anything,
‘Tis the seal, despair, —
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.
When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, ’tis like the distance
On the look of death.
I found this on The Englewood Review of Books. Now there is an interesting site. I commend it to anyone who thinks they know what US Christianity is all about. Go there and have your stereotypes challenged.
Kevin
June 28, 2009 at 6:22 am
Nice catch! Most of Emily Dickinson’s poetry doesn’t even rhyme, but this one does. I’m surprised that she’s read outside of the states, since she fails to rhyme so painfully often.
She calls her failed poetry ‘slant rhyming’, which is the same as ‘NOT rhyming’. In college, we used to call any test grade that wasn’t an A a ‘slant A’ in deference to her poor rhyming skills
.
For the quality of this comment, I’m giving myself a slant A.