There’s a certain slant of light
I just came across an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education – Poetry Makes You Weird. The author, Eric G Wilson, could equally be talking about visual art and artists – the way we look at the world, are taught to look, or choose to look.
The article references an Emily Dickson poem:
There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.
Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.
None may teach it anything,
‘Tis the seal, despair,-
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.
When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, ‘t is like the distance
On the look of death.
I found this through post 86 of the WetCanvas forum thread Being an artist and CHOOSING to be alone