Tell all the truth but tell it slant — Analysis

Emily Dickinson was no stranger to church. She grew up in a religious household, and even spent a year at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. So, that means that she was no stranger to hymns, either. Th...

At first it sounds like someone might be bossing us around in this poem. The first part of the opening line, "Tell all the Truth" has an authoritative vibe, like something a parent, teacher, or oth...

Where are we? We're not really sure. Our best guess is we're in the headspace of a reclusive twenty-something woman from the late 1800s. That's right; we're all up in Emily Dickinson's brain. It's...

We dipped into the sound cloud a little in "Form and Meter." We couldn't help ourselves, the ballad made us do it. The way Dickinson uses form and meter contributes in a big way to the sound of the...

Here's a little insider's tip: "Tell All the Truth But Tell it Slant"? That's not really the title. This poem doesn't actually have a title. In fact, none of Dickinson's poems do. Since their disco...

If you're looking for a poet to chronicle the tiniest physical details of everyday life, you're in the wrong place. While some poetry delights in painting a vivid, tangible picture for its readers,...

On the surface it looks like this is going to be an easy one. First off, it's tiny. It's only eight lines long, and some of those lines are super-short. Second, Dickinson stays on the same subject...

Emily Dickinson had a green thumb (no, not literally). She gardened all of her life. Her father built a conservatory on their homestead so she could tend plants year-round. (Source.)Although Dickin...

This poem has about as much sex in it as there was in nineteenth-century Puritanical Massachusetts on a Sunday. In other words: none. Feel free to read this one aloud from the church pew. There isn...