by
Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
After great pain, a formal feeling comes...
Language: English
Available translation(s): FRE GER GER
After great pain, a formal feeling comes –
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –
The stiff Heart questions 'was it He, that bore,'
And 'Yesterday, or Centuries before'?
The Feet, mechanical, go round –
A Wooden way
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought –
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone –
This is the Hour of Lead –
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow –
First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON: READING EDITION, edited by Ralph W. Franklin, ed., Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1998, 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1951, 1955, 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , no title, copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Bertram Kottmann
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 83
Nach großem Schmerz, Gefühl verflacht zu...
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English
Nach großem Schmerz, Gefühl verflacht zu Form --
die Nerven sitzen steif, wie Grabesnorm;
das starre Herz fragt: War es 'Er, der trug'?
Und gestern -- oder im Jahrhundertflug?
Der Fuß, mechanisch, geht im Rund --
des Holzwegs Pfad --
von Pflicht, von Brauch, von Grund --
gewachsen drein:
Ein steinernes Zufriedensein.
Von Blei ist solche Stund' --
erlebt, falls überlebt,
wie Frierende den Schnee erfassen --
Erst -- Frost -- dann Starre -- dann das Fallenlassen --
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2010-01-12
Line count: 13
Word count: 67