Tis So Appalling It Exhilarates
poem 281
Tis So Appalling It Exhilarates - meaning Summary
Exhilaration in Confronting Death
Dickinson’s poem describes a paradoxical reaction to extreme horror and death: the experience is both appalling and exhilarating. Facing a ghost or truth strips away suspense and hope, offering a bleak clarity that some meet with prayer while the initiated cease to hope. Letting go becomes akin to sleep, and the release of terror feels like a grim, liberated celebration. The poem frames despair and death as both frightening and strangely freeing.
Read Complete Analyses‘Tis so appalling it exhilarates So over Horror, it half Captivates The Soul stares after it, secure A Sepulchre, fears frost, no more To scan a Ghost, is faint But grappling, conquers it How easy, Torment, now Suspense kept sawing so The Truth, is Bald, and Cold But that will hold If any are not sure We show them prayer But we, who know, Stop hoping, now Looking at Death, is Dying Just let go the Breath And not the pillow at your Cheek So Slumbereth Others, Can wrestle Yours, is done And so of Woe, bleak dreaded come, It sets the Fright at liberty And Terror’s free Gay, Ghastly, Holiday!
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