This is the Hour of Lead --Remembered, if outlived,As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow --First --Chill --then Stupor --then the letting go --.

Summary

This quote, taken from Emily Dickinson's poem, "After great pain, a formal feeling comes," encapsulates the experience of intense grief or sorrow. The phrase "the Hour of Lead" symbolizes a heavy burden or emotional weight. Dickinson compares this mourning process to how frozen individuals remember the sensation of snow: it starts with a chilling feeling, followed by a state of numbness or stupor, and ultimately leads to a release or surrender. Through concise imagery, Dickinson captures the stages and aftermath of profound loss and suggests that such experiences can become etched in one's memory.

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