There's a certain Slant of light (258) by Emily Dickinson

Full Text

There's a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons –
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes –

Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –
We can find no scar,
But internal difference –
Where the Meanings, are –

None may teach it – Any –
'Tis the seal of 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 –

Overview

Light as wound. Winter afternoon sun causes "Heavenly Hurt"—a contradiction that defines religious experience as painful illumination. The damage is internal, scarless, untreatable. When this light arrives, everything stops; when it leaves, we get a glimpse of death. The poem makes depression feel cosmic.

Line-by-Line Analysis

Lines 1-4

"Slant" is precise—not direct but angled, winter-specific. "Heft of Cathedral Tunes" compares light to heavy music. Both oppress through grandeur.

Lines 13-16

Nature responds to this light: landscape "listens," shadows hold breath. Its departure resembles death's expression—not death itself but its "Distance."

Themes

• Depression as spiritual experience
• Light as wound
• Internal versus external
• The weight of meaning

Literary Devices

Oxymoron

"Heavenly Hurt," "imperial affliction" — Sacred and painful merge—religious experience wounds as it illuminates.

Synesthesia

Light having "Heft" — Light gains weight, sound gains mass—senses merge in overwhelming experience.

Historical Context

Dickinson's Amherst would have long winter afternoons with distinctive light. The "Cathedral Tunes" reference is notable—she stopped attending church but couldn't escape its aesthetic weight. This may be her version of what later writers called "the dark night of the soul."