There's A Certain Slant Of Light (258) Comments

Four simple couplets that capture with devastating precision our mortality.

'There's a certain Slant of light' can also be read mythically through the ancient tradition of the nekyia, the underworld journey. But since Odysseus, Aeneas, and Dante all return with a knowledge that ultimately permits them to complete their human and/or spiritual quests, the question arising about Dickinson's poem is: what knowledge is brought back as a result of the 'descent'? The knowledge is not entirely a morbid one since it has resulted in a meeting with the 'internal difference, / Where the Meanings, are-' and the further knowledge that 'None may teach it, ' and that 'When it comes the Landscape listens.' The knowledge implies a depth difficult to be prepared for, especially since the closure of the poem evokes the idea that 'Death' has a face, and the speaker has seen it. From 'Her Reduceless Mine, ' an Ameroot Broadside Essay (1995) . dorenrobbins.com