Received: from mgmt.utoronto.ca (fmgmt.mgmt.utoronto.ca [128.100.43.253]) by mail1.texas.net (8.8.8/2.4) with SMTP id PAA00805 for ; Tue, 24 Mar 1998 15:46:15 -0600 (CST) Received: by mgmt.utoronto.ca (5.65v4.0/1.1.10.7/26Jan98-0432AM) id AA14419; Tue, 24 Mar 1998 16:42:07 -0500 From: LouisFors Message-Id: <5d79e3f4.35182899@aol.com> Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 16:41:42 EST To: emweb@fmgmt.mgmt.utoronto.ca Mime-Version: 1.0 Subject: Re: # 650 and "begun" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 3.0 for Windows 95 sub 49 Sender: owner-emweb@fmgmt.mgmt.utoronto.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: emweb@fmgmt.mgmt.utoronto.ca Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII X-UIDL: 2d0191d3e105a71267ef98d3c21758c7 In a message dated 98-03-24 11:51:39 EST, Karin wrote: > Not sure if this has anything to do with anything, but it came into my > head: the poem is about the perception of time when one is in pain. Maybe > this tense-play on the verb "begin" (putting it in a different past tense > than we expect, thereby drawing our attention to the tense, and an > ungrammatical -- or not standarly grammatical-- perception of the past in > the poem's syntax) is an example of what I like to think of as the "loose > tooth" technique in ED's poems -- you know how when you have a tooth > loose you kind of feel compelled to keep worrying it with your tongue? I > think Dickinson kind of does this with her tweaked grammar sometimes, to > draw attention to important ideas. > > Just a pre-caffeine, morning thought. > > Karin > I, for one, will never read # 650 again, or many other ED poems, without thinking of the "loose tooth" theory. Louis Forsdale > > > Pain-has an Element of Blank- > > > > It cannot recollect > > > > When it begun-or if there were > > > > A time when it was not- > > > > > > > > It has no Future-but itself- > > > > Its Infinite contain > > > > > > > > Its Past-enlightened to perceive > > > > New Periods-of Pain.