From Blank to Blank
A Threadless Way
I pushed Mechanic feet —
To stop — or perish — or advance
Alike indifferent —
If end I gained
It ends beyond
Indefinite disclosed —
I shut my eyes — and groped as well
'Twas lighter — to be Blind —
狄金森的空白常是和極度痛苦相聯的,比如她的另一首詩 Pain has an Element of Blank . Harold Bloom 在他的西方正典 (The Western Canon) 裏特別提到狄金森的這首“空白”:I had thought of brooding on Dickinson's blanks as well, but I retreated before their formidable intensity. Bloom強調了狄金森的認知原創性(cognitive originality)和陌生性(strangeness),比如最後一句實現了反轉,一種反諷(irony)的驚奇,definitely ends beyond the poem,讓讀者深思。