Análise literária

UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO AMAPÁ

AMERICAN LITERATURE II
Francisco Tiago Meireles,
Ranielly Santana Pena¹

Literary Appreciation of the poem 241 by Emily Dickinson

I like a look of Agony,
Because I know it’s true –
Men do not sham Convulsion,
Nor simulate, a Throe² -

The eyes glaze once – and that is Death –
Impossible to feign
The Beads upon the Forehead
By homely Anguish strung.
1861?

1. Meanings:

1.1 General: the truth is so unusual nowadays that the lyric poet prefers the look of agony because he knows it is impossible to simulate.

1.2 Detailed: the lyric poet does not like a look of agony because he enjoys watching others suffer, but he affirms that he likes the look of agony in front of the death, because it is impossible to feign. Death brings out true emotions, your eyes and your words cannot simulate your feelings and in a world where the truth is difficult to find, real feelings are rare. The lyric poet opinion is that agony is a sincere and genuine emotion.

In the lines of the first strophe you can confirm these ideas; men do not sham or feign a convulsion or a Throe (spasm), you cannot simulate pain nor smile when you are ill.
In the following strophe you have the word “Death”, it is clear that the look of agony is in front of this difficult moment of our lives, we can say that we are all right but our eyes show the truth: “The Eyes glaze once – and that is Death” (line 5), the fear or the relief is inside you and it is “Impossible to feign” (line 6).

1.3 Intention: the author brought the importance of the real, it does not matter if you have good or bad feelings, you have to show them as they really are. Our lives are full of lies; we are so surrounded by hypocrisy that the single moment of truth is the death, it is like an irony because the unique real feelings you have are expressed in the end of your life. No one can fake the physical reactions accompanying agony, and the author shows brilliantly how people do not