Critical Appreciation Emily Dickinson "The Heart Asks Pleasure - First"

BONNEVILLE Critical Appreciation : Poem 536 16/10/12 Edouard Emily Dickinson
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« The Heart asks Pleasure – First - » is a poem written by American poet Emily Dickinson. The two quatrains composing it explore various themes, some of which are very much present in her other works, such as death, and love. The deceptively simple nature of the poem makes it very much open to a variety of interpretations, all in a seemingly universal register, which Dickinson so often uses in her poetry. Nevertheless, the concept regarding the progression of pain and suffering appears to be dominant here.

First of all, it is essential to point out that “The Heart” is really the base of the poem; the personified, conceptual entity that is being examined by Emily Dickinson. The anaphora with “and then” (lines 2,3,5,6) followed by the positioning of the dashes make up the poem’s narrative liaisons, as well as establishing the idea of a chain of consequences: the poem tracks the evolution of the hearts pain, and the remedies used to attempt to alleviate the heart of it’s pain. The complementary nature of the words “asks” and “first” in the first line suddenly make the requests of the heart hierarchical, and gives an impression of selection: the Heart asks for pleasure first and then asks to be relieved from the pain. Here Dickinson seems to be suggesting that pain must come from pleasure, which fits perfectly into the idea of chain of consequence. The capital P attributed to these words would suggest that one causes the other, or a possible non-distinction of the two by the Heart. Here “asks” can also imply dependence, as a result of a sort of lower status in respect to the “Inquisitor”. As we said, the poem essentially runs through the remedies for the heart’s pain in a progressive way. However, these remedies become progressively more extreme as the poem lingers on: it begins with the medication (“Anodynes” l.3), passes through sleep, and then the final solution becomes death. Interestingly enough, “Anodynes” is the only remedy starting with a capital letter, in total contradiction to the order and extremity of the remedies: this is most probably used for inverse effect on the word “die”; its attributed simplicity turns into emphasis. Moving on, Emily Dickinson creates a feeling of expectation, as well as anticipation in this poem. On one hand, expectation is established through the chain of consequences mentioned earlier, in complement to “The will of its Inquisitor”, which is unknown. On the other hand, anticipation is much subtler: “deaden” (meaning to tranquilize pain), contains “dead” within the word itself, which anticipates “die” at the end of the second stanza; the ultimate remedy for the heart’s pain. Notice how both these allusions to death are placed and the end of each stanza; emphasizing that death is literally the end of life (meaning the end of pain), and giving some form of circularity to a poem that is stripped of much poetic regularity (in terms of rhyme; no words rhyme in this poem, making it closer to narration than poetry). Suddenly, the poem could be about the evolution of the heart in depression, with the “Inquisitor” being the individual in depression. The poem is quite obviously about the evolution of pain and its remedies; however the word “Inquisitor” is the primordial element that leads to the different interpretations of this poem, one of them being depression as mentioned before. It can actually be considered as the most important word in the poem: it’s the only one that’s contains more than three syllables (it contains four). After all, this poem could be about the progression of pain in love: the Heart asks to be loved first (“Pleasure” evidently being Love) and then asks to be relieved of the pain of not being loved any longer. Dickinson might be suggesting that suffering in love may be self-inflicted: we are the ones who want and “ask” to be loved, and we are thus the only ones to blame for any pain coming from love (again with the capital letters on “Pleasure” and “Pain”, creating the link between the two). Furthermore, “Anodynes” and “Sleep” provide temporary remedy from pain, and they constitute only a slight attenuation of this pain; death is the only reliable, effective solution. Here, “Inquisitor” would be the beloved, again showing how the heart is susceptible, and utterly dependent on how others treat it. The only control the poet has over his heart would be death. Thus the last line “The privilege to die-” should be read as “The liberty to die” or “The right to die”. As a result, the line that precedes it becomes rather indirect: “The will of its Inquisitor” emphasizes the control of the beloved upon ones heart, but this idea is slightly deformed by the contradiction that is the last 3 lines of the poem: the Inquisitor somewhat controls ones heart, but the heart still possesses the liberty of taking its own “life”.

Moving on, the religious dimension of this poem mustn’t be neglected: in this case, “The Inquisitor” becomes God himself. The “capital letter liaison” between “Heart” and “Inquisitor” is not of the same nature as the other ones: it is oppressive. Dickinson may be implying that God controls an individual’s heart through the fact that one has faith, and thus possesses the power to control and inflict pain, and even indirectly choose its remedy if taken to the extreme. In other words, it is the oppressive force of religion and God upon humanity. All this is completely coherent with the fact that “Inquisitor” alludes to the Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church in the thirteenth century: a tribunal for the discovery and punishment of heresy (punishments including physical abuse, torture etc.). The ambiguity with the religious dimension of the poem comes from the fact that God would also have the ability to relieve the individual from pain: if it is the “will of the Inquisitor”, the “privilege” of death would be somewhat “granted”.

In conclusion, the ambiguity in this poem is really overwhelming, but it really makes up the essence of Dickinson’s poetry. Apparent simplicity coupled with poetic irregularity make this poem much more intriguing, and might even accentuate it’s universality. The progression of the pain in this poem could thus have three origins: religion, love and depression; three concepts that are constantly present throughout Dickinson’s vast poetry.