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The Full Text of “Tell all the truth but tell it slant —”
1Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
2Success in Circuit lies
3Too bright for our infirm Delight
4The Truth's superb surprise
5As Lightning to the Children eased
6With explanation kind
7The Truth must dazzle gradually
8Or every man be blind —
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“Tell all the truth but tell it slant —” Introduction
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"Tell all the truth but tell it slant —" muses on how to go about telling the truth, arguing that delivering truth too directly will only overwhelm the recipient. Instead, the speaker says, it's best to get at the truth in a sort of roundabout way, telling it gently or bit by bit, so as not to shock people with its "brilliance." Written by Emily Dickinson—one of America's greatest and most influential poets—the poem showcases her characteristically imaginative style, managing to express vast abstract ideas in succinct, tightly constructed lines. Like nearly all of Dickinson's poems, it was not published until after her death, though it would have been written sometime between 1858-1865.
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“Tell all the truth but tell it slant —” Summary
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Tell the whole truth, but tell it from a particular angle or put a spin on it. You have to go about it in a roundabout way, because human beings are too weak to take in the truth's magnificent brilliance all at once. Much like you make lightning seem less frightening to children by gently explaining it to them, you have to tell the truth little by little so as not to overwhelm people; if the truth is shown too directly, people won't be able to grasp or accept it.
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“Tell all the truth but tell it slant —” Themes
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Truth and Understanding
In this poem, the speaker muses on the best way to tell the truth. While the speaker believes that it’s important to tell “all the” truth, it also seems that the truth is too vast, bright, and brilliant to be taken in all at once. Whether that truth in question is related to religious enlightenment, the laws of nature, or something else entirely, the speaker believes that the truth must be arrived at slowly and indirectly—lest it totally overwhelm its audience.
To “tell it slant” here essentially means to put a spin on the truth, to approach it from an angle of sorts rather than head on. Broadening this idea, the speaker insists that success when it comes to sharing the truth can be found in “Circuit,” a word that indicates a kind of circular journey. Truth can't be grasped all at once, in other words; it takes repeatedly hovering around the edge of something to really understand it.
Why must the truth be approached this way? According to the speaker, it's because the truth is simply “too bright” on its own, too dazzling and surprising to stare at directly. Much like the sun, it's too radiant to behold all at once; doing so will make someone go "blind," metaphorically speaking. The speaker isn’t advocating for lying, but saying that the truth must be felt and glimpsed—rather than gaped at—in order for it to be fully understood and believed.
The actual truth that the speaker is talking about here is left ambiguous. On the one hand, the speaker might be alluding to religious (and specifically Christian) truth. The Bible frequently connects “light” and “truth” with God, and lightning is also often taken as symbolic of God’s power. Contrasted with the “infirm”—or weak, sickly—“Delight” of humanity, the bright truth in the poem might be taken as a reference to the strong, everlasting presence of God. The poem might be saying that it’s simply too much for feeble human beings to look at God and spiritual truth directly. Of course, the poem may simply be referencing truth and truth-telling more generally.
In any case, the speaker compares telling the truth to gently explaining lightning to children in a way that makes it seem less scary. The laws of nature are harsh, and the nature of the world isn’t always pretty; children need to know these things, but adults soften the truth to make it more palatable. The speaker seems to suggest that this is the role of the person who tells the truth—to deliver it in a way that doesn’t frighten the recipient.
Regardless of what this truth is, exactly, the speaker insists that it must “dazzle gradually.” In other words, a truth that is discovered in bits in pieces, or that is felt and intuited before it is understood, stands a better chance of being accepted than a truth that is delivered too bluntly. And the final line of the poem speaks to the danger of a truth arrived at too suddenly: the em dash ends the poem abruptly, mimicking the way a person might respond to a sudden, uneasy truth—by breaking off or turning away, no longer able or willing to engage.
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The Nature of Poetry
The poem can be interpreted as an ars poetica, a poem that meditates on the art of poetry itself. The speaker’s instruction to “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” seems to capture something that poetry in particular is capable of doing: taking something old and familiar and making it new and fresh. That is, by giving an idea an unexpected "slant," poetry creates the “surprise” of seeing something beautiful or profound in the everyday.
The speaker’s assertion that “success in Circuit lies” implies that even if one wanted to deliver the truth all in one fell swoop, one couldn’t. Instead of just bluntly stating some profound fact, the speaker intimates that one must try again and again to arrive at truth. This requires poets to find new ways of looking at the familiar world. The poet’s job, then, isn’t just to tell the truth, but to tell it in ways that haven’t been told before—an idea that presents poetry as a process of constant innovation and discovery.
The idea that “success in Circuit lies” also subtly suggests that beauty exists in ordinary, routine occurrences. The word “circuit” invites readers to think about repetition, which is often seen as boring and mundane. And yet, the speaker upholds that a certain kind of “superb surprise” lurks within the truth. It is this sense of wonder and “surprise” that poetry is capable of unveiling through its unexpected and unique approach to language. The poet’s responsibility, then, is to reveal meaningful feelings or thoughts that readers don’t expect.
This process of arriving at surprising truths must happen “gradually.” Through this slow and patient approach, poetry can invite readers to really sit with things they might ordinarily have ignored or overlooked. Thus, poetry may open a reader’s eyes to the truth—whether that truth is something big and profound or just the ordinary beautiful world to which people quickly become accustomed. Poetry, the poem itself suggests, presents reality in a way that allows readers to see the extraordinary at the heart of the ordinary.
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Tell all the truth but tell it slant —”
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Line 1
Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
The poem begins with the speaker instructing the reader to "Tell all the truth but tell it slant." The word "slant" indicates a specific angle or perspective, so it's as if the speaker is saying, "Tell the truth, but not directly."
The word "slant" often describes a slope, but here essentially means to approach the truth from an angle rather than head-on—to tell it indirectly. People must find their own unique ways of articulating meaningful ideas.
Of course, "slant" can also refer to a person's bias or predisposition toward a certain idea. In the context of the poem, this might suggest that people have their own viewpoints and their own experiences of the truth—and, maybe, that the truth itself is subjective
Finally, the word "slant" foreshadows the poem's central metaphor, which compares the experience of encountering profound truths to the experience of seeing "dazzl[ing]" light. In the same way that people are better off gazing at a "slant" of light than staring directly into the sun, it's necessary to approach the truth in a roundabout, indirect way.
The first line sets up some expectations for the poem's rhythm. The poem is written in common meter, which alternates between lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. A line of iambic tetrameter is made up of four iambs, which are metrical feet consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (da-DUM). A line of iambic trimeter, on the other hand, contains only three iambs (three da-DUMs).
This first line, then, is written in iambic tetrameter:
Tell all | the truth | but tell | it slant —
Many church hymns use common meter, so this rhythm lends the poem a sense of importance or reverence while also making it feel more musical.
The presence of heavy consonance and alliteration in the repetition of /t/ and /l/ sounds make the line all the more memorable:
Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Everything that follows the em dash at the end of line 1 explains or illustrates this point made at the outset of the poem. In this way, the first line functions like a thesis that the rest of the poem will support.
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Line 2
Success in Circuit lies
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Lines 3-4
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise -
Lines 5-6
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind -
Lines 7-8
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —
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“Tell all the truth but tell it slant —” Symbols
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Light
Light in the poem symbolizes truth itself. Throughout the poem, the speaker talks about how light can be overpowering, implying that too much truth can feel like a light that is too "bright" for humans to face.
Light also has certain philosophical and religious associations, since it's often used as a symbol of enlightenment or creation. Consider, for example, the phrase "Let there be light," which God says in the Old Testament of the Bible while creating the earth. In addition, light is frequently used in modern times to illustrate some kind of revelation, like when cartoon characters realize something important and a lightbulb appears above them.
In the poem, the speaker also mentions lightning, a form of light that feels inherently menacing. A light like this, the poem implies, is so "dazzl[ing]" that it can be deeply unsettling and disorienting. Similarly, truth should be approached "gradually," as if were a strong light. In the same way that staring at a bright light temporarily "blind[s]" people, confronting truth in a direct, head-on way actually keeps people from genuinely recognizing it in the first place. Considering that light has religious implications, this encourages readers to consider the fact that the poem might be about what it's like to encounter divine truth. Either way, though, comparing the truth to a bright light helps readers understand the speaker's point that it's impossibility to fully grasp or confronting certain forms of truth or knowledge directly.
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“Tell all the truth but tell it slant —” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Consonance
For such a short poem, "Tell all the truth but tell it slant —" contains a lot of consonance. Note how often the poem turns to the /l/ sound, for example, especially in the first line:
Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
The first line also contains consonance (and alliteration) of the /t/ sound in "Tell," "truth," and "slant." Taken together, this consonance makes the first line feel memorable and assertive.
Later, in line 4, consonance appears with the /p/ sound and the sibilant /s/ sound:
The Truth's superb surprise
These sounds connect the words "superb" and "surprise," emphasizing the idea that the truth often contains wonderful or beautiful surprises—even if human beings aren't always able to register or make sense of this beauty. The consonance and alliteration in this moment also just makes the line sound more musical and satisfying. The speaker's language reflects the beauty that often lurks within the truth.
The poem's last moment of consonance comes at the very end of the final line, when the speaker alliterates the bold /b/ sound, saying, "Or every man be blind." The immediate repetition of the /b/ sound gives this moment a heightened and rhythmic feeling, ensuring that the poem ends on a strong and decisive note. This assertive tone reveals the speaker's confidence in the belief that overwhelming people with knowledge simply makes it impossible for them to see the truth at all.
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Sibilance
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Repetition
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Metaphor
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Enjambment
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“Tell all the truth but tell it slant —” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Slant
- Circuit
- Infirm
- Superb
- Dazzle
Slant-
A slope or angle. In this context, "slant" means to present something (the truth) from a particular angle, point of view, or perspective.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Tell all the truth but tell it slant —”
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Form
"Tell all the truth but tell it slant" is an eight-line poem that can be further broken up into two quatrains based on its rhyme scheme (and, in fact, the poem is sometimes published with a stanza break after the first four lines).
This structure is straightforward and easy to follow, offsetting the fact that the speaker's syntax (that is, the arrangement of words) is unconventional. The poem's rather circuitous language reflects the speaker's attempt to tell the truth but "tell it slant." If the language were as uncomplicated as the poem's structure, then the poem might feel too blunt, and this wouldn't align with the idea that it's impossible to state the truth in a straightforward way.
But if the poem's form were as quirky and elusive as its language, it would be hard to understand the speaker's meaning at all! This mixture of a simple form with more complex language therefore allows the speaker to demonstrate what it might look like to tell the truth "but tell it slant."
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Meter
Much of Dickinson's poetry is written in common meter—the meter of Christian hymns. This poem is no exception.
The poem alternates between lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. A line of iambic tetrameter contains four iambs, feet that contain an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. A line of iambic trimeter, on the other hand, contains just three iambs. Consider, for example, lines 3 and 4:
Too bright | for our | infirm | Delight
The Truth's | superb | surpriseLine 3 is in iambic tetrameter, while line 4 is in iambic trimeter. This gives the poem a dynamic and fresh sound, as if the rhythm is constantly evolving.
However, the poem doesn't follow this pattern perfectly. There are a couple of moments in the poem in which an iamb is replaced with another kind of foot, such as in line 5:
As Light- | ning to | the Chil- | dren eased
While it's possible to force that second foot into an iambic rhythm, doing so sounds pretty unnatural! We'd argue that the poem is more naturally read with that second iamb being replaced with a pyrrhic foot, two unstressed syllables in a row. While deviations like this are small, they make a difference, especially in such a short poem, keeping things from getting too rigid.
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Rhyme Scheme
The poem follows a rhyme scheme in which the even-numbered lines rhyme with each other but the odd-numbered lines don't. It can be mapped out like this:
ABCBDEFE
This means that greater emphasis falls on words like "lies" and "surprise" or "kind" and "blind." These rhymes give the poem a sense of structure and consistency.
Although the words at the end of odd-numbered lines don't form perfect rhymes, they are still sonically connected. For example, lines 1 and 3 end with the words "slant" and "Delight," respectively. These words are connected through consonance, since the /l/ and /t/ sounds are present in both words ("slant" and "Delight"). Similarly, lines 5 and 7 are connected by the assonant /ee/ sound ("eased" and "gradually"). They are, in other words, slant rhymes—an appropriate aspect of the poem, considering that the speaker argues for the value of telling the truth "slant." In this way, the poem subtly enacts its core theme through its use of slant rhymes.
The poem also contains an internal rhyme in line 3 between "bright" and "Delight." This rhyme draws attention to the relationship between truth and pleasure, reminding readers that there is beauty in the truth even though actually encountering this beauty might overwhelm people. This internal rhyme adds musicality to the line, making the speaker's language sound particularly cohesive and satisfying.
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“Tell all the truth but tell it slant —” Speaker
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The poem contains no identifying information about the speaker. All readers know is that the speaker is somebody who thinks extensively about the best way to deliver the truth. According to the speaker, the truth is too overwhelming and powerful to approach head-on. Because of this, the speaker urges readers to seek out the truth in circuitous, indirect ways.
This suggests that the speaker is a cautious and philosophical person, the kind of person who ponders life's big questions but knows that there are limits to human understanding. The poem spotlights this kind of thinking, which is why it doesn't matter all that much that readers never learn who, exactly, the speaker is—in other words, the speaker's ideas are much more important than the speaker's actual identity.
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“Tell all the truth but tell it slant —” Setting
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Just as there is no specific speaker of the poem, there is also no specific setting. This poem deals with abstract ideas about truth rather than concrete concerns about the material world. This is part of what makes it feel so timeless: the poem can be applied to any time or place. The lack of specificity allows the speaker to meditate on philosophical ideas about the nature of truth without having to integrate these thoughts into a particular environment. The result is that the poem feels universal and applicable to all walks of life.
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Literary and Historical Context of “Tell all the truth but tell it slant —”
Literary Context
Emily Dickinson is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most original poets writing in the English language. She was directly influenced by the Romantics, who valued beauty, the imagination, and reconnection to nature in the face of the Industrial Revolution. She was also impacted by Transcendentalist poets like Ralph Waldo Emerson, picking up on Emerson's interest in individuality and the life of the mind.
Both Emily Dickinson and her contemporary Walt Whitman are often credited with taking these Romantic and Transcendentalist approaches and breathing new life into them. Many people even consider Dickinson's work to be a precursor to Modernism; her use of punctuation, enjambment, and slant rhymes was quite radical for her time, exhibiting the kind of experimentation and rejection of tradition that would come to be associated with Modernist writers. In fact, her work was so unusual for its time that the first editors of her poetry were thrown off by her style in the aftermath of her death—they actually went in and replaced her careful choices with more conventional punctuation, syntax, and full rhymes!
The poetry world in the 1800s was dominated by men. Very few women were published, and when they were published, it was usually done anonymously. This was the case for the few poems Dickinson published during her lifetime, which were likely circulated without her permission.
Philosophical and religious writing was also largely overtaken by men, but this didn't stop Dickinson from incorporating this kind of thinking into her poetry. She grew up religious but tended to practice her faith in private, wrestling with religious ideas in her poetry instead of attending church on a regular basis. All the same, her poetry often uses common meter, which is typical of Christian hymns. By borrowing this form, Dickinson managed to repurpose certain religious practices so that they fit into the unique landscape of her own thinking.
Historical Context
Like almost all of Dickinson’s poems, "Tell all the truth but tell it slant —" was not published until after her lifetime. It was written at some point between 1858 and 1865, a period of time in which the poet was intensely prolific. The poem’s religious undertones are reflective of Dickinson’s relationship with the Christian church (her family was Calvinist), which evolved over the course of her life as she became increasingly skeptical of organized faith. She wasn’t alone in her grappling with religion—she lived during a divisive period in which traditional Christian beliefs came up against new scientific discoveries, such as Darwin’s theory of evolution.
In particular, New England saw the revival of traditional Christianity in the 1860s, when Dickinson was a teenager. During this period many of Dickinson's contemporaries made public declarations of their faith, but Dickinson herself never did this. She even distanced herself from the church by the end of the decade, feeling that her commitment to the world was greater than her commitment to her faith.
Despite her lack of church attendance, Dickinson continued to wrestle with religious questions throughout her life. Her poetry is a window into this struggle; at times reverent, other times angry or even scoffing, her varying poetic tone indicates that her relationship with God was highly personal and far from straightforward. This may account for the ambivalence and ambiguity in much of her work. While her poems often set out to define or describe a seemingly simple concept—such as telling the truth—there is nothing simple about the way they unfold on the page. Nor, it seems, was her general outlook on life, existence, or religion.
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More “Tell all the truth but tell it slant —” Resources
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External Resources
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Biography and Further Reading — Check out this brief biography of Emily Dickinson, along with a selection of her poems.
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Additional Resources on Dickinson — For more information about the poet's life and work, take a look at the Emily Dickinson Museum's website.
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The Emily Dickinson Collection — Harvard Library's Emily Dickinson Collection includes preserved copies of over a thousand of her handwritten poems and letters.
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Hear the Poem — A performance of the poem by actress Alice Barclay for Live Canon Poetry.
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A Further Examination of the Poem — This craft essay by Camille T. Dungy provides some additional insight into the poem and its influence on modern poetry.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson
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