In Emily Dickinson's "There's a certain slant of light," the poet provides yet another glimpse into her world of patriarchal oppression and the overall entropy of the seasons. In this poem, even light is oppressive – the contrast between light and dark is shown to be quite close to the contrast between life and meaning. Through her use of descriptive imagery, syntax and form, Emily Dickinson takes a short poem and manages to eke a tremendous amount of meaning out of it, likening light to the reminder that death will be upon us eventually. .
Dickinson's level of descriptiveness in these passages helps to evoke the weariness and weight of winter; the kind of light you get in "winter afternoons oppresses, like the heft Of cathedral tunes" (lines 2-4). Here, religion is likened to pain; hymns are shown to give a negative feeling in the listener, and Dickinson goes on to describe it as "heavenly hurt," which is also what winter provides (line 5). This shows light to be incredibly oppressive, like a heavy blanket weighing you down and giving you no reprieve. The light is described thusly by Dickinson, showing an almost unrelenting pain that is nearly imperceptible; she says that it leaves "no scar, because the hurt is inside us" (line 6).
The light can also be likened to the search for meaning in life – the cathedral tunes hurt because Dickinson finds them hollow, and the 'heavenly hurt' comes from the unfulfilled promise of salvation from someone who does not believe. This is the "internal difference Where the meanings are": the gap between what she believes and what is told to her" (lines 7-8). This causes the despair that Dickinson describes, an existential and "imperial affliction" that brings her no happiness no matter what light is shone on her (line 11). The specter of death looms over her, especially as something that robs life of meaning; the "seal of despair" is that permanent understanding that everyone will die someday (line 10).
