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Chapter 2 - The “look of agony” and everyday middle-class life

three transitional works

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Phillip J. Barrish
Phillip J. Barrish
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
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Summary

In 1861, the same year that the Civil War (1861–65) began, the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson wrote,

  1. I like a look of agony,

  2. Because I know it’s true;

  3. Men do not sham convulsion,

  4. Nor simulate a throe.

Dickinson’s poem asserts that the “look” or appearance of agony – sharp, intense pain – carries with it a conviction of reality.

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The Cambridge Introduction to American Literary Realism , pp. 26 - 40
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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