'You can't handle the truth!' is one of the most famous lines of the film, A Few Good Men (1992). This line embodies the ballad poem Tell All the Truth but Tell it to Slant written by Emily Dickinson, entirely. Emily tries to justify the importance of truth and contradicts her opinion as well, being mindful of the fragility of human beings as the speaker in the poem says that one must tell complete truth but slowly and gradually. The truth must be told in parts as the direct blow is not digestible for sensitive humans, because before acceptance of something its understanding is important. Moreover, the bright and dazzling truth might blind an individual when delivered in all its glory. However, to give it off in chunks is to let the other party adjust in a circuit to ease the truth without frightening them as lightning frightens children. The simple yet complex poem is an amalgamation of vibrant poetic devices including; imagery, metaphor, personification, simile, moreover the rhyming scheme incorporates the consonance and assonance of the poem to display the vulnerabilities of humans without being gregarious.
Imagery is a descriptive language that is expressive and has an impact on the human mind and sensations, moreover, it generates a response in form of images in the mind as is being done in this poem.
Too
bright for our infirm delight
As
lightning to the children eased
The
truth must dazzle gradually
Or
every man be blind- (Foundation)
Overall,
the poem is replete with visual imagery as these lines have an impact on the
reader and create images in the mind of a ‘personified truth; that is bright,
luminous, and in its magnificence will blind everyone. The personification of the
‘truth’ by giving it human attributes of ‘superb surprise’ also aids the
introspective power of imagery. Moreover, the effect of lightning used as a
medium of fear and depiction of the influence complete truth will have on an
individual is easily imaginable through the use of imagery. Hence, imagery is a
vital tool in this poem to make the audience perceive the things that are not
perceivable apparently.
Metaphor
and simile are comparative literary devices that help the readers to better
relate to the poem and perceive its message. In the poem, the 'truth' is
compared to light or a close synonym in more than one line as, 'bright,
dazzling, and lightening'. The former two examples are of metaphor and the
latter is of simile as it is compared with the truth with the use of 'as' in
the poem. Moreover, the last line of the poem, 'Or every man be blind’
is a hyperbole due to exaggeration of the truth making a person blind but it
can be accounted as a metaphor as well. All these literary devices depict the
reality that truth brings light to the hearer’s world by revealing all that was
concealed however, it can become too blinding sometimes as people often refuse
to accept or turn a blind eye to the shock of complete truth and must be
transitioned to accept it gradually. Therefore, by analyzing this poem we can
say that metaphor and simile allow the poets to connect emotionally with the
readers and deliver their message efficiently.
The
rhyming scheme in the poem is used as a tool to create balance, rhythm, flow
and to give the poem a pleasant sound effect. The rhyme scheme comes at the end
of each verse in the poem, and in Emily Dickinson's ballad it alternates, for
instance, the second and fourth lines rhyme in the poem as do the sixth and
eighth lines. The rest of the verses are said to be half or slant rhymes due to
the consonance of 'T' sound of 'slant' and 'delight' in the first and fourth
line respectively, and assonance of the 'E' sound in the middle of the fifth
and seventh line of the poem. These half-rhymes are of significance as the poet
advises the reader to reveal the truth partially or half initially.
Keeping
in mind these sound devices, the overall rhyming scheme of the poem is
'ABCBDEFE', and the inconsistent yet complementing pattern adds harmony to each
line and gives the poem an aura of coherence. Another significant feature of
the rhyming scheme is the focus on the meter in the poem, which contains the
unstressed and stressed syllables to add music to the poem. Emily has used the
familiar meter of Christian hymns in her poems, which substitutes between
iambic pentameter and iambic trimeter, containing four iambs (unstressed
syllable shadowed by a stressed syllable) and three iambs, respectively. In
this poem, the poet has used the same technique, for instance:
Too
bright for our infirm Delight
The
Truth’s superb surprise (Foundation)
Line
3 of the poem is an example of iambic tetrameter, and line 4 is of iambic
trimeter, giving the poem an active rhythm and versatility. Hence, the rhyming
scheme combined with form and meter gives the poem a lively aura and allows the
poet to present the idea without being rigid and of the key.
To
conclude, the poem Tell All the Truth but Tell it to Slant is a written
depiction of human fragility and weakness in facing the realities of life. The
literary devices in the poem such as imagery, metaphor, and simile provide
ornamentation for the poem for aestheticism as well as to create an impact on
the reader. Moreover, these devices along with the rhyming scheme add melodious
quality to the poem so that the poet can appropriately convey the advice and
concern that truth has the power to either knock a person off its feet or an
individual often turns a blind eye to the realities of life.
This article is written by Umm-e-Rumman Syed, one of the contributors at the School of Literature.
