As it happens, I first heard (and loved) the Millay spoken by Kim Hunter, and likewise the first Cummings spoken by Mark Lenard, in 1963 on a one-hour CBS TV special called, "Americans: A Portrait in Verses," hosted and narrated by James Whitmore.
Sounds nice. I wonder if it ever made it to video.
After great pain, a formal feeling comes – (372) BY EMILY DICKINSON
After great pain, a formal feeling comes...
Sometimes I understand ED, sometimes I don't. This one I have to think about.
Thanks for posting it, JB.
You're welcome, ZQ!
It speaks to me because I have had periods in my life with great physical pain, and when the pain passed I experienced the "formal feeling" myself. And the final stanza, with the "hour of lead" and "remembered if outlived" completely mirrors my experience. I think it can apply similarly to a great emotional pain that passes but then leaves one very still and haunted.
Thanks, David -- a favorite poem by one of my favorite poets. As is also:
RESUME
Razors pain you; Rivers are damp; Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp; Guns aren't lawful; Nooses give; Gas smells awful; You might as well live.
And:
UNFORTUNATE COINCIDENCE
By the time you swear you're his, Shivering and sighing, And he vows his passion is Infinite, undying - Lady, make a note of this: One of you is lying.
He lived, He died, He probably lied, When he fell, She may have sighed, So far apart, But not in heart, The two were one, But now that's gone, The life remains, Like lost still frames, Until the time, Yet here, not now, When all that was, Shall be again.
