For each ecstatic instant
We must an anguish pay
In keen and quivering ratio
To the ecstasy.

For each beloved hour
Sharp pittances of years,
Bitter contested farthings
And coffers heaped with tears.

Dickinson makes two main points about the relationship of joy and pain in this poem. (1) Joy and pain are inextricably related; joy is inevitably followed or paid for by suffering. (2) Joy is brief; the resulting pain lasts.

Joy and pain are presented as balanced or equal in several ways:

• For each "instant" of joy, we experience an equal "instant" of pain. Because pain is payment for the joy, they have a cause and effect relationship, that is, one causes the other; thus they are inseparable.
• The joy and pain are described as deeply felt; the joy is "ecstatic", and pain is an "anguish." Are joy and pain equal in emotional intensity?
• The "ratio" between them is intense and, by implication, equal. The qualities "keen and quivering" apply to both joy and pain. The word "quivering" can express a physical reaction to both joy and pain.

• The adjective "keen" (keen: sharp, piercing, or biting) suggests that pain is more strongly or deeply felt. It may also be read as a hint that joy itself may be mixed with some pain. If so, it prepares for the imbalance of joy and pain in stanza two and the dominance of pain.
• The first and last lines of the stanza both refer to ecstasy, but pain is mentioned only once. More emphasis is being given to ecstasy not only by the two references but also by the placement of the two references. The opening and conclusion of any literary unit (e.g., a stanza, a poem, an essay, a play, a movie) draw our attention automatically, by virtue of their placement.

To show how long our joy lasts compared to our suffering, Dickinson uses time imagery. In stanza one, ecstasy lasts "an instant" as does pain. How long a time period is this? Stanza two extends the time period we experience joy and pain, but the time periods are no longer equal. For each "hour" of love, we suffer "years." How significant or great is the time difference between an hour and a year? Another way of asking this question is, how much longer does our suffering last than our joy?

She also uses money imagery, beginning with "pay" in stanza one. In stanza two, joyful or "beloved" hours are paid for by "years" of pain. The years are described as "pittances" (pittance: very low salary). How sustaining or fulfilling would a year of pittances be? Joy is finally compared to farthings (farthing: one-fourth of a British penny). If joy is a farthing, the accompanying pain is an overflowing "coffer" (coffer: a box or chest, usually to store treasure).

Another change occurs in stanza two. Joy is no longer experienced separately from pain. Joy is described with words indicating pain. "Farthings" of joy are achieved by "bitter" struggle or contest. In other words, joy occurs with pain. The pain mixed with joy is separate from the pain which is the consequence of joy, the pain discussed in stanza one. We continue to experience this pain as payment for our joy. This pain remains unmixed with joy. The pain which results from joy is intense; it is "sharp. Continuing the money imagery, the pain resulting from the farthings is love (mixed with pain) is fills coffers "with tears." Are these tears of joy or of pain?

Is there an implication that we pay for our ecstasy by our agony, that the ecstasy is merited because of the agony or that the ecstasy is justified by the agony?