Diana Valenzuela
Ms. Lanciaux
IB English III
September 12, 2016
“Tell all the truth but tell it slant”
Language & Purpose
In “Tell all the truth but tell it slant”, by Emily Dickinson, the author uses language to portray the purpose of the poem. The purpose being that sometimes it’s best to occasionally not know the whole truth because the truth can be overwhelming. This is quite apparent when Dickinson uses words like: “Circuit”(2), “Too bright”(3), “Surprise”(4), “Eased”(5) and “Kind”(6), and writes: “The Truth must dazzle gradually/ Or every man be blind” (7-8).
“I dwell in Possibility”
Mood & Subject matter:
In the poem “I dwell in Possibility”, by Emily Dickinson, the author uses mood to convey the subject matter. Dickinson uses
words like: “Possibility”(1), “Fairer” (2), “Numerous”(3), “Superior”(4), “Impregnable”(6), “Everlasting”(7), “Fairest”(9) and “Paradise”(12) to portray a very positive mood. Furthermore, Dickinson also uses words like: “dwell”(1) -which can sometimes mean to write, or talk about a specific theme, “Occupation”(10) - which is obviously a job- and “Hands”(11) to allude to the speaker’s job as a writer. Thus saying that writers have an endless amount of chances “To gather Paradise”(12). “She sweeps with many-colored brooms” Language & Imagery: In the poem “She sweeps with many-colored brooms”, by Emily Dickinson, the author uses language and personification to portray the motions of the sun. Dickinson uses words like: “Many colored brooms”(1), “Purple”(5), “Amber” (6) and “Emerald”(8), to show what “She”(1) is dropping. Coincidentally enough all those colors can be found in a sunset; thus making all the “brooms” sun rays, and all the “She”(1), “You”(5) and “Her”(9) the sun. “A light exists in spring” Language & Subject matter: In “A light exists in spring”, by Emily Dickinson, the author uses language to convey the subject matter. The subject matter being a “Light that exists in spring” (1) “That science cannot overtake,/ But human nature feels” (7-8). By using “That science cannot overtake,/ But human nature feels”, Dickinson gives the light a religious or spiritual quality to it (7-8). Dickinson also uses: “It passes, and we stay:/ A quality of loss/ Affecting our content”, to show how the speaker’s satisfaction is affected when the light passes (12-14). “Wild nights! Wild nights!” Language & Imagery: In the poem “Wild nights! Wild nights!” by Emily Dickinson, the author uses language and imagery to imply that the speaker is in love. This is quite apparent when Dickinson writes: “Wild nights! Wild nights!/ Were I with thee” (1-2), and uses words like: “Luxury”(4), “Heart” (6) and “Eden”(9). Dickinson also uses a metaphor to portray a ship (love), when she writes: “Futile the winds/ To a heart in port”(5-6), and uses words like: “Rowing”(9), “Sea”(10), and “Moor”(11).
He also made us experience the awe and misery of the mother by describing her “trembling steps” when she went to read. the letter, her “sickly white face and dull in the head”. In addition to her state after her son’s death, she was “presently drest in. black”, “her meals untouched”, “fitfully sleeping often waking” and “sleeping”. her “deep longing.to be with her dead son”. Dickinson uses imaginative and figurative language.
Dickinson uses only a few, such as "as lightning to the children". Dickinson also uses personification, in saying that the truth must dazzle gradually, or using the phrase "the Truth's superb surprise", referring to the truth as a proper noun, giving it human characteristics. The tone of Dickinson's poem differs from that of Hughes's poem in the sense that Hughes's poem is inquisitive, while Dickinson's is more commanding. The speaker of "Tell all the Truth…" is saying exactly that- tell all the truth but tell it slant, while the speaker in "Harlem" is more contemplative,
...e use of figurative language and many literary techniques, Dickinson makes clear her theme, adding on to the intensity of the poem.
Dickinson's poetry is both thought provoking and shocking. This poem communicates many things about Dickinson, such as her cynical outlook on God, and her obsession with death. It is puzzling to me why a young lady such as Emily Dickinson would be so melancholy, since she seemed to have such a good life. Perhaps she just revealed in her poetry that dark side that most people try to keep hidden.
Emily Dickinson is one of the great visionary poets of nineteenth century America. In her lifetime, she composed more poems than most modern Americans will even read in their lifetimes. Dickinson is still praised today, and she continues to be taught in schools, read for pleasure, and studied for research and criticism. Since she stayed inside her house for most of her life, and many of her poems were not discovered until after her death, Dickinson was uninvolved in the publication process of her poetry. This means that every Dickinson poem in print today is just a guess—an assumption of what the author wanted on the page. As a result, Dickinson maintains an aura of mystery as a writer. However, this mystery is often overshadowed by a more prevalent notion of Dickinson as an eccentric recluse or a madwoman. Of course, it is difficult to give one label to Dickinson and expect that label to summarize her entire life. Certainly she was a complex woman who could not accurately be described with one sentence or phrase. Her poems are unique and quite interestingly composed—just looking at them on the page is pleasurable—and it may very well prove useful to examine the author when reading her poems. Understanding Dickinson may lead to a better interpretation of the poems, a better appreciation of her life’s work. What is not useful, however, is reading her poems while looking back at the one sentence summary of Dickinson’s life.
The waxing and waning action of the text might symbolize the constant cycles of life. The fact that the text recedes then elongates in rhythm make the reader think the speaker of the poem is not sure what steps to take in their life. The speaker might not have convinced him or herself about the suicide attempt. Many suicidal thoughts are stopped short of action and then thought about later. Dickinson writes in this style to show the opposing forces of every situation. Suicide would likely be the most contemplated decision the narrator has ever had to make.
Though Dickinson’s poem may initially seem transcendental, it can also be interpreted as a mixture of Emerson’s transcendental ideas and those that support the notion of imagination. Dickinson’s poem serves as a response to Emerson’s ideas because she adds on to his thoughts and unites his idea that there is oneness present in the world with the notion that imagination and sight serve as a bridge that connects human consciousness with nature to create this oneness that Emerson believes in. In the first stanza, the narrator says, that “I got my eye put out” (1), showing that she can now only see from one eye because of the singular use of eyes. Because she only talks of having lost sight in one eye, it can be assumed that she laments the limited vision that is now provided by her remaining eye. The narrator’s fragmented and limited vision caused by the loss of one eye is captured through the extensive use of dashes, which are used to separate the sentences, making them give a feeling of disarray and disjointedness.
The choice of using simple words might be obscure for a logical poet as Dickinson, however she uses simple words as a technique to develop a complex sentence with a strong meaning. An example of this is her fourth sentence in which she states, “And Latitude of Home-“, where she uses a multi-definition word to intertwine with a simple word to convey a deep message. Dickinson uses a different definition of the word latitude than the obvious definition or meaning (Barnet 501). Essentially, this message means that every one’s “now is different” in the “space” that exists in home (Priddy
In conclusion the two things that Emily Dickinson uses is personification and extended metaphor. She uses these things in order to make the reader think of the poems deeper
Emily Dickinson was one of the greatest woman poets. She left us with numerous works that show us her secluded world. Like other major artists of nineteenth-century American introspection such as Emerson, Thoreau, and Melville, Dickinson makes poetic use of her vacillations between doubt and faith. The style of her first efforts was fairly conventional, but after years of practice she began to give room for experiments. Often written in the meter of hymns, her poems dealt not only with issues of death, faith and immortality, but with nature, domesticity, and the power and limits of language.
This use of irony makes the poem more interesting to the reader. Imagery is a big component of most works of poetry. Authors strive to achieve a certain image for the reader to paint in their mind. Dickinson tries to paint a picture of?death? in her own words,.
The tone of the poem is described as a weary, self-depressed outlook. He is uncertain about life and his place in it. T.S Eliot uses the
In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Tell All the Truth but Tell it Slant,” the poet proclaims that individuals should tell the truth, but tell it a little bit at a time otherwise the person receiving the information will be overwhelmed. She opens the poem stating to tell the truth but not the whole truth, and that “success in circuit lies,” (line 2) which the reader can infer that she is saying that success is earned through repetitive lies. The speaker also states that receiving the whole truth can be too much for that individual to bare, so “the truth must dazzle gradually,” (line 7) which means that it should be told in a way that the individual can understand. The poet then finishes the poem stating “or every man be blind,” (line 8) which means that if the truth is told directly and all at once it could cause us to avoid confronting it. By analyzing the major simile in the poem the reader can come to comprehend main theme discussed throughout the entire piece.
The painting by Hubert Robert symbolizes a sense of grandeur as one looks at the pyramids that is drawn so huge in proportion that it vanishes midway. This could be the painter's way of expressing how powerful the entities were, representing grandeur in contrast to the little figures that were going towards it. Like the great king and his slaves.
Throughout Emily Dickinson’s poetry there is a reoccurring theme of death and immortality. The theme of death is further separated into two major categories including the curiosity Dickinson held of the process of dying and the feelings accompanied with it and the reaction to the death of a loved one. Two of Dickinson’s many poems that contain a theme of death include: “Because I Could Not Stop For Death,” and “After great pain, a formal feeling comes.”