“There's a certain Slant of light” Summary

“There's a certain Slant of light” Themes

• 

  The Nature of Despair

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• 

  Religion and Nature

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• Truth and Transformation

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “There's a certain Slant of light”

• Lines 1-2

  There's a certain Slant of light,
  Winter Afternoons –

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  That oppresses, like the Heft
  Of Cathedral Tunes –

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-6

  Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –
  We can find no scar,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-8

  But internal difference,
  Where the Meanings, are –

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-10

  None may teach it – Any –
  'Tis the Seal Despair –

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-12

  An imperial affliction
  Sent us of the Air –

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-14

  When it comes, the Landscape listens –
  Shadows – hold their breath –

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-16

  When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
  On the look of Death –

  

  

  

  

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“There's a certain Slant of light” Symbols

• 

  Light

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“There's a certain Slant of light” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Oxymoron

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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“There's a certain Slant of light” 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
• Oppresses
• Heft
• Cathedral Tunes
• Internal difference
• Seal Despair
• Imperial affliction
• Look of Death

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “There's a certain Slant of light”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“There's a certain Slant of light” Speaker

“There's a certain Slant of light” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “There's a certain Slant of light”

More “There's a certain Slant of light” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Original Manuscript — View the manuscript of the poem, as it was discovered locked in Dickinson's trunk.

  • "In Our Time" Podcast — Listen to experts discuss Dickinson and her work on the well-known BBC podcast.

  • Helen Vendler on Dickinson — Read an interview with renowned Harvard scholar Helen Vendler, in which she discusses this and other poems.

  • Understanding Emily Dickinson — An article introducing students to some of the main aspects of Dickinson's poetry, from the Emily Dickinson Museum.

  • "There's a certain Slant of light" Analysis — An academic analysis of the poem by a professor at the University of Nebraska, for students who want to push their understanding to a higher level.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!