Based on the way Emerson uses words, and the spiritual aspect she gives the warning signs of her migraine, in this poem the migraine’s aura is both its warning signs and its spiritual presence. “Aura” is most often used to mean the (generally figurative) atmosphere of a thing, but can also refer to the warning signs of a migraine. A ‘migraine with aura’ is a migraine with symptoms that happen before the actual pain (“Migraine With Aura Symptom, Triggers and Treatment”). Visual disturbances like partial or temporary blindness are a common symptom of a migraine with aura, but Emerson makes these symptoms larger than visual disturbances entire chunks of her reality might as well be missing, which is a much more disturbing thought than temporary vision issues due to a migraine. “Migraine: Aura and Aftermath,” ends with Emerson regaining her vision after a migraine, suggesting that moving on from her divorce allowed her to finally see herself and her life clearly.Įmerson characterizes the migraine not entirely as a physical affliction, but as a sort of spiritual one as well, describing the loss of eyesight as losing part of the world. Emerson’s melding of time periods suggests the destructive power of her divorce spread beyond the present moment into Emerson’s past, and of course her future as well. Not only did Emerson’s break up with her husband hugely affect her, but it’s established multiple times leading up to “Migraine” that their relationship itself was dangerously unhealthy, and something from which Emerson needed to recover. This implication in the title its section makes “Migraine: Aura and Aftermath” extremely powerful within the context of the larger narrative.
Thus, idea that all the stages of her and her husband’s relationship have been retroactively split in two fits with Emerson’s use of time in the rest of the book. Throughout Late Wife, Emerson frequently plays with time, melding different times in her life into one.
#Aftermath meaning series#
Emerson and her ex-husband rented a series of them there was no single house that could be called ‘the house.’ This disparity suggests that the title of this section refers to both the act of divorce and the degree to which they had split it didn’t matter which house Emerson and her husband were breaking up, all of them may as well have been destroyed. Furthermore, the singular ‘house’ Emerson refers to in the title of this section cannot be taken entirely literally, as there were multiple houses. Throughout the book, houses are often used as symbols of the state of their relationship, and this title is no exception it can’t be, after Emerson has spent so many poems establishing that as part of her symbolic language in Late Wife. The section “Migraine: Aura and Aftermath” ends is titled “Breaking Up the House,” referring to Emerson’s divorce with her ex-husband. “Migraine: Aura and Aftermath” conveys very specific messages about recovering from loss, and sets a precise emotional tone that leads into the next section.
It has to be in order to function in the narrative-this is the last poem in a section, so, by virtue of position alone, it is one of the defining parts of that section and arguably the book as a whole. However, despite the potential for initially appearing simple, “Migraine: Aura and Aftermath” is extremely intricate. The experience of the loss of vision associated with migraines is used as a metaphor for Emerson’s experience coping with the end of her relationship, but this seems like one of Emerson’s more direct metaphors.
At first glance, this poem may seem to be one of her simpler ones it is literally a description of a migraine’s aura. by ellieerhart | Uncategorized “Migraine: Aura and Aftermath” Ĭlaudia Emerson’s poem “Migraine: Aura and Aftermath” is the final poem of the middle section of her book Late Wife. The Void (TM) This is where words about poetry will go.
0 kommentar(er)
