Poem found here: "Crumbling is not an instant's Act (1010)"
More about the Poet: Emily DickinsonSuch a strong first line that makes a reader wonder, "Crumbling is not an instant's Act" where the speaker sets up a curiosity -- what is the physical visual case between crumbling/not crumbling. The next three lines brings a curt matter of fact attitude:
A fundamental pause
Dilapidation's processes
Are organized Decays --
The process of decay is an orderly manner -- a pause, dilapidation happens, good and organized. Then the speaker brings this sort of objective view goes back to the self, "'Tis first a Cobweb on the soul." And as the image of this crumbling soul going down to the most basic electron:
A Cuticle of DustSo the soul, this particle, is down to an "elemental" rust is gone. Is it gone? If not gone then what happens, "Ruin is formal -- Devil's work / Consecutive and slow --" a continuous decay to something smaller, something minuscule -- a reverse Sisyphean ordeal.
A Borer in the Axis
An Elemental Rust --
The last two lines don't make sense to me, "Fail in an instant, no man did / Slipping -- is Crashe's law --" I looked up "Crashe's law", but this looks like this law refers to nothing I can see outside this poem. The bigger question to me is "Fail is an instant, no man did." I understand the enjambment focusing on no man fails in an instant -- but the direct verb drops down to the next line "Slipping" is a good visual, but doesn't make sense with the sentence.
Slipping down like sisyphus.
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