The Test - Emily Dickinson

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Emily Dickinson was an American poet best known for her eccentric personality and her frequent themes of death and mortality. Although she was a prolific writer, only a few of her poems were published during her lifetime. Despite being mostly unknown while she was alive, her poetry-nearly 1,800 poems altogether-has become a staple of the American literary canon, and scholars and readers alike have long held a fascination with her unusual life.
I can wade grief,
Whole pools of it, -
I 'm used to that.
But the least push of joy
Breaks up my feet,
And I tip - drunken.
Let no pebble smile,
'T was the new liquor, -
That was all!
Power is only pain,
Stranded, through discipline,
Till weights will hang.
Give balm to giants,
And they 'll wilt, like men.
Give Himmaleh, -
They 'll carry him!
The central theme of this poem centers around the fact that happiness can oftentimes be the downfall of a person, no matter how strong they are.
Dickinson exhibits this notion by stating that "the least push of Joy breaks up my feet." The reader takes this statement to mean that she trudges along quite well through pools of Grief but when she encounters Joy, she stumbles and falls. She begs the pebbles to not mock her as she falls and she actually blames her fall on the happiness she experienced. She even calls it "the New Liquor," thus comparing happiness to an inhibitory type of drink.
In the second stanza, the speaker discusses how "power is only pain." This shows the reader that power is only obtainable after an individual has experienced true pain that is isolated "thro' Discipline" and thereafter used as a "weight" (as in a workout weight) until that person is strong enough to withstand the pain. The speaker also says that if you "give Balm- to Giants they'll wilt, like Men," meaning if one allows those who are already strong to experience happiness, then they become weak like normal men and will therefore be unable to be giants any longer. However, if one gives a man "Himmaleh," referring to the Himalayan Mountains, then he will rise to the challenge and succeed.
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Special Thanks & Credits:
Visuals - A light in the fog - a film by David Dang (vimeo.com/73877007)
Pelago - Montage By Simone Biagini
(vimeo.com/164901212)
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