Below is a link to the website from which I grabbed this poem. I provide it because poets.org is such a wonderful website and I thought you might want to play around there for a while.
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15390
Your assignment here is to read and discuss Dickinson's poem, yes, but more than that it is to discuss exactly why we want to (need to?) speak figuratively.
There's a certain Slant of light (258)
by Emily Dickinson
There's a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons –
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes –
Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –
We can find no scar,
But internal difference,
Where the Meanings, are –
None may teach it – Any –
'Tis the Seal Despair –
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air –
When it comes, the Landscape listens –
Shadows – hold their breath –
When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
On the look of Death –
