A Weight with Needles on the Pounds
poem 264
A Weight with Needles on the Pounds - meaning Summary
Pain's Systematic Inspection
The poem presents suffering as a mechanical, clinical force: a heavy weight studded with needles that not only presses but also pierces, testing whether flesh will yield and then probing anew if it resists. The speaker emphasizes thoroughness—no pore of the "Compound Frame" escapes inspection—so anguish is portrayed as systematic and exhaustive. The closing line likens the variety of pain to the many named species in nature, implying suffering comes in numerous, distinct forms that together define the human bodily and emotional condition.
Read Complete AnalysesA Weight with Needles on the pounds To push, and pierce, besides That if the Flesh resist the Heft The puncture coolly tries That not a pore be overlooked Of all this Compound Frame As manifold for Anguish As Species be for name
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