“Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant” by Emily Dickinson Essay

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Introduction

The poem “Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant” by Emily Dickinson discusses the importance of truth and how it should be received gradually rather than all at once. The speaker’s central idea is to reveal the truth indirectly to avoid shocking listeners with its brilliance.

Discussion

The poem’s tone is assertive and is achieved when the speaker believes that overwhelming people with information prevents them from seeing the truth. The poet’s use of the metaphor “As Lightning to the Children Eased” is one illustration where the truth is compared to lightning (Dickinson 1175). The word ‘truth’ has been used as a repetition sound due to several mentions, and light is used to symbolize truth itself. The speaker often mentions how light can be overwhelming, suggesting that too much truth may feel like a light that is too bright for people to bear.

Another poetic device that has been used in the poem is consonance. There is frequent use of the /l/ sound, for instance, in the first line, “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” (Dickinson 1175). The words that move me the most are: “The truth must dazzle gradually or every man be blind” (Dickinson 1175), which would mean that the truth, if shown too directly, has the power to blind us. I find the poem interesting and unique as it challenges the norm and allows me to see how people need to modify their approach to truth.

Conclusion

The poem made me feel confident and motivated that I do not have to tell the truth at once, but I can do so in bits. From the poem, I learned how Poetry conveys reality in a manner that enables the audience to discover the extraordinary at the center of the ordinary.

Work Cited

Dickinson, Emily ‘Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant.’” The Complete Poems Emily Dickinson, Global Grey Ebooks, 2020, pp. 1–1825.

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IvyPanda. (2024, January 3). "Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant" by Emily Dickinson. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant-by-emily-dickinson/

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""Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant" by Emily Dickinson." IvyPanda, 3 Jan. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant-by-emily-dickinson/.

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IvyPanda. (2024) '"Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant" by Emily Dickinson'. 3 January.

References

IvyPanda. 2024. ""Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant" by Emily Dickinson." January 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant-by-emily-dickinson/.

1. IvyPanda. ""Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant" by Emily Dickinson." January 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant-by-emily-dickinson/.


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IvyPanda. ""Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant" by Emily Dickinson." January 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant-by-emily-dickinson/.

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