Emotional numbness
What Emotional numbness means in English Literature A-Level, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.
Definition of Emotional numbness
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Emotional numbness in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: Pearson Edexcel
A condition the speaker makes concrete through bodily, thermal and cleansing images, wanting to feel, confess and become clean again.
Topics that use Emotional numbness
- Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – The Victorian Period – Christina Rossetti Selected Poems, editor Dinah Roe (Penguin, 2008) (Pearson Edexcel A-Level)
Related terms
- Aging and mortality
- Anaphora
- Betrayal and lost love
- Caricature
- Commerce and consumption
- Death and Mourning
- Death and the afterlife
- Divine Love
Using Emotional numbness in the exam
Check the command word and mark scheme for your exact question. After comparing your explanation with the reference, use the term in an answer on the linked topic. This practice does not predict an exam mark.
Practise English Literature questions
Create a free account to answer exam-style questions on this topic and get feedback on your answers.
A week of Premium from your first lesson · Then the free plan continues · No card, no charge