Tell all the Truth but tell it slant

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Tell all the Truthbut tell it slant

• By Emily Dickinson
• (pg. 386)

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Explication

• Tell all the Truth but tell it slant- a
• Success in Circuit lies b
• Too bright for our infirm Delight a
• The Truths superb surprise b
• As Lightning to the Children eased c
• With explanation kind d
• The Truth must dazzle gradually e
• Or every man be blind- d

• Key
• Rhyme Scheme
• Metaphor
• Simile
• Alliteration
• Diction
• Imagery
• Internal Rhyme
• Oxymoron

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Paraphrase

1. Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-
2. Success in Circuit lies
3. Too bright for our infirm Delight
4. The Truths superb surprise
5. As Lightning to the Children eased
6. With explanation kind
7. The Truth must dazzle gradually
8. Or every man be blind-

1. Tell the truth but dilute it to suit the listener
   
2. Sometimes it is better to not go strait to the
   truth
3. The truth is sometimes too much to handle all at
   once
4. It surprises you
5. When explaining lightning to children
6. You must explain lightning gradually so it will
   not scare the child as much
7. Likewise when explaining the truth, you must do
   so gradually
8. Or they will not see the truth at all

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Imagery and Symbolism

• Line 5 As Lightning to the Children eased
• Visual Imagery The lightning refers to the
  imagery pattern of light and dark.
• Symbolism LightTruth/DarkIgnorance

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Elements

• Metaphor
• truth compared to light. The truth opening your
  eyes to new ideas is compared to light showing
  things in the darkness that were previously
  overlooked. Just as light is sometimes too bright
  and hurts your eyes or surprises you if turned on
  too suddenly, truth may hurt your feelings or
  surprise you.
• Another metaphor is in the last two lines. Its a
  metaphor because a person will not literally go
  blind if told the truth but will close off and
  ignore or not believe what they have been told
  because it was too much to handle.

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Elements Continued

• Simile Lines 3-6, the truths surprise is too
  bright for us to understand like lightning is too
  hard for children to understand unless the
  explanation is broken down and the truth is
  diluted.
• Alliteration- tell/truth, slant/success/circuit/su
  perb/surprise. This is important because it calls
  attention to the words alliterated emphasizing
  Dickinsons theme.
• Oxymoron- Infirm Delight, infirm meaning
  sickness and delight meaning joy. It is used to
  say that ignorance is bliss in our society.

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Elements Continued

• Punctuation- The first dash after slant means
  because indicating the end of the introduction
  and leading into the rest of the poem. The second
  dash after blind is used to remind the reader to
  keep thinking about the speakers purpose.
• Capitalization- Truth is capitalized to show that
  it is the subject of the poem. Circuit is
  capitalized to emphasize the need to be indirect
  when telling the truth.

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Structure

• There is rhythm and the poem is written in free
  verse. There is however a rhyme scheme (a, b, a,
  b, c, d, e, d).
• She differed from normal poetry because she
  didnt feel like she had to be limited by rules
  and because no one except her was supposed to
  read her poems.
• Rhyme She uses slant rhyme when she uses the
  words slant and delight and exact rhyme with
  lies/surprise and kind/blind. Then she uses
  internal rhyme with bright and delight.
• Speaker The speaker is first person plural where
  the speaker aligns themselves with society.

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Meaning and Theme

• Meaning The poem was meant to be informative and
  advising.
• Theme There were two themes. One is Tell the
  whole truth, while diluting it so as to not
  frighten or surprise the listener. The other is
  The whole truth is sometimes too much to handle.

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Diction and Tone

• Diction The words tell, success, circuit, eased,
  explanation, kind, must, and gradually to give
  advice and inform the reader of her opinion. She
  uses words such as infirm, delight, surprise,
  dazzle and blind to convey the powerful nature of
  the truth. Also the words eased, kind, gradually
  and surprise is used to show the sympathetic
  nature of the speaker.
• Tone The tone is several things, informative,
  advising, opinionated, confident, and
  sympathetic. These are shown through the use of
  diction and other literary and poetic devices.

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Multiple Choice Questions

• 1. How is the line, Tell all the Truth but tell
  it slant- best interpreted in this poem?
• Tell something that sounds like the truth but is
  not the truth
• Tell the truth but dilute it to suit the listener
• Tell the truth but not the whole truth
• Do not tell the truth at all
• Avoid answering the question

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Multiple Choice Questions

• 2. What literary element or elements does
  Dickinson use to emphasize her advising tone?
• Capitalization-Circuit, to emphasize the need to
  be indirect when telling the truth
• Alliteration-tell/truth, /success/circuit/superb/
  surprise.
• Diction-tell, success, circuit, eased,
  explanation, kind, must, and gradually
• Answers a and b only
• Answers a and c only

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Multiple Choice Questions

• 3. How does Dickinson use diction to convey the
  powerful nature of the truth?
• She uses the word explanation
• She uses the word Circuit
• She uses the word delight
• She uses the word success
• She uses the word must

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Multiple Choice Answers

1. B- You must tell the truth and the whole truth
   but you must explain it kindly and gradually so
   the listener will understand better.
2. E- Capitalization by emphasizing circuit, it is
   emphasizing the need, or advising the reader, to
   be indirect when telling the truth. Diction-tell,
   success, circuit, eased, explanation, kind, must,
   and gradually are all words that someone might
   use when giving advice about how to tell someone
   the truth
3. C- delight is a word associated with feeling
   when explanation, Circuit, success and
   must are all words that are associated with
   taking action

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Essay Question

• How does Dickinson use metaphors to emphasize her
  themes?

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Essay Question Answer

• Dickinson uses a metaphor when she compares truth
  to light. The truth opening your eyes to new
  ideas is compared to light showing things in the
  darkness that were previously overlooked. Just as
  light is sometimes too bright and hurts your eyes
  or surprises you if turned on too suddenly, truth
  may hurt your feelings or surprise you. This
  relates to both themes because she explains here
  that the blunt truth is not always the best thing
  and may surprise the listener. Another metaphor
  is when she says The Truth must dazzle gradually
  Or every man be blind-. Its a metaphor because
  a person will not literally go blind if told the
  truth but will close off and ignore or not
  believe what they have been told because it was
  too much to understand. This also relates to both
  themes but especially explains the theme of The
  whole truth is sometimes too much to handle
  because if you tell someone the blunt truth right
  away, they may not have time or the experience to
  understand it completely and may just block it
  out altogether.

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The End!!!