Response to Emily Dickinson, Selections from " The Complete Poems"
             I found Emily Dickinson to be a wonderful poet. Her way with words is astounding and timeless. To be so full of creative energy to write thousands of poems is almost incomprehensible. Although we covered several poems during class I think this response would be better served to discuss one poem in particular. I choose 241.
             Written around 1861, 241 is in essence a poem about the realness of people. People put on a visage. The only person we ever truly know is ourselves. Dickinson uses pain and death as a way of showing that the only time we can show our true selves is when our mind does not have time to catch up with the reactions of our bodies. When faced with great pain the body automatically shows the emotion we really feel. As soon as our mind has a chance to understand what is happening, the moment of realness has already passed. It is that moment that we reveal our true selves. Even when faced with great trauma, such as the loss of a loved one, after the initial reaction, our true self is once again hidden. Put for a second, a brief moment we reveal our true self. The same is true when we ourselves our in great pain. For a period of time our body reacts with no though of our minds, this is our true self. Sometimes we even hide our true selves from our own person. In essence Dickinson states that we our only ourselves when faced with great pain or even death. There is no faking it.
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