Emily Dickinson Presentation Assignment
Follow these steps:
1. Go to www.americanpoems.com/poets/emilydickinson
2. Read the poems until you find one that you like that I haven’t already exposed you to.
3. Copy and paste it into a Word document.
4. List all of the reasons that you like it.
5. List all of the words that you don’t know.
6. Define ALL OF THE WORDS, even the ones you think you know.
7. Address each of our 13 poetry questions.
8. Decide which 5 of the 13 questions gave you the most interesting ideas about your poem.
9. Sign up for your presentation day and time.
10. Dig deeper into those 5 questions and use them as the basis of your presentation.
11. Give me a list of all of the equipment you will need.
12. Create your presentation, making sure that you do the following things:
a. Create an outline that highlights the information you will be covering in class.
b. Create any materials (audio, video, pictures, handouts, overheads) you will need to get your ideas into our heads.
c. Streamline your presentation so that it takes exactly 10 MINUTES!
d. Rehearse your presentation and your timing in front of others.
e. At least one day BEFORE your presentation slot, double check to make sure that EVERYTHING WORKS!!!
f. Teach us your poem.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
522, 1071, 1129 ESSAY: Confident Despair and the Circuitry of Truth
Confident Despair and the Circuitry of Truth
The Poetry of Emily Dickinson
For Emily Dickinson, poetry is an expression of her ceaseless pursuit of Truth and, in a sense, Immortality. To the extent that her idealized progress toward certain knowledge must be engaged with the ill-suited mortal faculties of sense and comprehension of what is sensed while tied to an imperfect world, this progress is perpetually frustrated. In stark contrast with the romantic and transcendental temperament of many of her American and Continental contemporaries, though, Dickinson acknowledges her imperfect, human perspective as an ineluctable element of her quest. Her poetry, then, can be seen both as the instrument by which she reworks her perception and as the product of that reworking.
Within this dynamic relationship, however, Dickinson consistently returns to a few primary symbols which seem to represent some unchanging elements and conditions of the quest as a whole. The most prevalent of these symbols are related to visual perception: the night, which is the symbol of her benighted, “fallen” perception, or spiritual blindness; noon and the sun, which represent absolute visionary glory, fulfillment of quest, the eradication of any division between perceiver and perceived; and physical eyesight itself, which must mediate between these two absolutes and align the real and temporal with an envisioned ideal. But the relationships among night, noon, and perception are dynamic and in constant flux; truth can only be glimpsed obliquely. “The Truth must dazzle gradually / Or every man be blind” (P 1129)–that is, true vision involves the ability to perceive relationships, to comprehend noon in terms of the night which is the human condition, the only condition Dickinson knows firsthand.
Poetic vision, therefore, is not a transcendental oneness with noon, a facile appropriation of the object of spiritual longing into the frame of a mere perceptual moment (though Dickinson did experience such moments, characterizing the them as “ecstatic instants”) but rather a multi-faceted endeavor toward gaining perspective upon that object, a perspective which absolutely necessitated distance. Dickinson characterizes the relationship between the perceiver and the perceived as paradoxically self-defeating, precisely: “Perception of an object costs / Precise the Object’s loss” (P 1071). What this means is that; 1) in order to see something, one must be separate from it and that 2) complete identification with an object necessarily precludes one’s perception of it. The most impressive and ominous logical off-shoot of this (one that resurfaces under innumerable guises throughout the Dickinson canon) is that in order to really know the capital concepts of God or Truth, to know anything at all, the singular identity of the perceiver must cease to exist.
But if the quest cannot be completed short of death, let alone organized into a single coherent thrust, individual moments of vision–attainments of true perspective–can be recorded, shaped into discrete poetic wholes. In order to place herself–a poet working “at night”–in an appropriate relationship to “noon,” the object of quest, it was necessary to experiment constantly with visionary perspectives in her poems; thus the poems often appear as fictions, the arguments of artificial personae bound to deliberately static (and therefore imperfect) perspectives. Some of these personae utter seemingly profound truths, but often the fictions also subtly qualify the speakers’ claims; sometimes the personae are still naive, in the state of innocence–and their naïveté is obvious, rather pathetic; and on occasion the speakers simply make fools of themselves.
To understand the complexity of Dickinson’s quest is to become sensitive to her various, often cunning uses of personae and their inadequately recognized affect: dramatic irony. To this affect, she creates a variety of fictions whose personae represent differing postures and attitudes toward the quest itself. Some speakers are self-deluding, others are merely complacent,
and still others make bold claims for the speaker’s own perception and intelligence, her need to scrutinize carefully perceptual relationships–measuring distances, establishing ratios between perceptual gains and losses–and thus her ability to hold her own in her courtship with death. The burden of establishing a link with omnipresence then, for Dickinson, falls not upon faith but upon human perception, which must constantly adjust its focus, never relax into certainty; otherwise, these narrow, artificial conceptions may be mistaken for the infinitely complex reality.
This perpetual shifting of perspectives from one poem to the next gives the body of Dickinson’s work an animated quality, an illusion of movement comprised of a series of flickering glimpses. As such, her poems have often been characterized as fragmentary bits of insight which make up a large, loosely related whole, but actually the opposite is true: the canon itself is fragment while individual poems are each self-contained units, singular perspectives. This is the paradox of a quest which requires numberless strategies, the sum of which–if the number were finite–would succeed in producing complete vision, and thus the poet’s union with it in the act of envisioning, the fulfillment of the quest. In the act of establishing the inextricable relationship between perception and its object’s loss, between artistic gain and personal depravation, she finds her identity and the role of her own “physiognomy” in the quest for immortality.
The noon of spiritual fulfillment is omnipresent, and to achieve it one must have “developed” sophisticated eyes. But since human perception, no matter how shrewdly developed, can sustain only instants of vision, oblique glimpses of immortality, the inevitable state of the human questor is despair. For Dickinson, however, this despair contains the key to its own transcendence, precisely because the energy of her quest is so unflagging, and her understanding of its conditions and limitations so thoroughly clear-sighted. As the poems examined above should indicate, the human night and the spiritual noon have their multi-faceted relationship through the mediation of perception and through the creation of poetic stances which enhance perceptual effectiveness. The following excerpt is a clear statement of the central emotional stance underlying this delicate mediation:
‘Tis failure–not of Hope–
But Confident Despair–
Advancing on Celestial Lists–
With faint–Terrestrial power–
‘Tis Honor–though I die–
For That no Man obtain
Till He be justified by Death–
This–is the Second Gain–
(P 522)
This poem is one of her most ambitious: it charts the poet’s quest from those presumptuous hopes of a naive questor to the “confident despair” which is the poet’s mature stance; and, like much of Dickinson’s canon, it points toward death as the crux of all meaning and relationship. The poem also contains an intense and beautiful pride, claiming the “honor” inherent in a quest that can achieve no sustained fulfillment; this honor itself sustaining and helps maintain the difficult stance of confident despair. The speaker who feels herself “Advancing on Celestial Lists– / With faint–Terrestrial power–“ knows that no certainty or true justification can exist on this side of death; but, if she despairs at the “faintness” of her own vision, she nonetheless remains confident in its relationship with the noon of her pictured fulfillment. Confidence in the reality of grace, despair at its incalculable distance–here the central paradox of Dickinson’s poetic insight, that perception of an object requires its loss, is stated poignantly in terms of her religious/artistic quest as a whole. Only through the effort of her poetic strategies could she alleviate that loss, cultivating a vision of her own questing self and of her position.
The Poetry of Emily Dickinson
For Emily Dickinson, poetry is an expression of her ceaseless pursuit of Truth and, in a sense, Immortality. To the extent that her idealized progress toward certain knowledge must be engaged with the ill-suited mortal faculties of sense and comprehension of what is sensed while tied to an imperfect world, this progress is perpetually frustrated. In stark contrast with the romantic and transcendental temperament of many of her American and Continental contemporaries, though, Dickinson acknowledges her imperfect, human perspective as an ineluctable element of her quest. Her poetry, then, can be seen both as the instrument by which she reworks her perception and as the product of that reworking.
Within this dynamic relationship, however, Dickinson consistently returns to a few primary symbols which seem to represent some unchanging elements and conditions of the quest as a whole. The most prevalent of these symbols are related to visual perception: the night, which is the symbol of her benighted, “fallen” perception, or spiritual blindness; noon and the sun, which represent absolute visionary glory, fulfillment of quest, the eradication of any division between perceiver and perceived; and physical eyesight itself, which must mediate between these two absolutes and align the real and temporal with an envisioned ideal. But the relationships among night, noon, and perception are dynamic and in constant flux; truth can only be glimpsed obliquely. “The Truth must dazzle gradually / Or every man be blind” (P 1129)–that is, true vision involves the ability to perceive relationships, to comprehend noon in terms of the night which is the human condition, the only condition Dickinson knows firsthand.
Poetic vision, therefore, is not a transcendental oneness with noon, a facile appropriation of the object of spiritual longing into the frame of a mere perceptual moment (though Dickinson did experience such moments, characterizing the them as “ecstatic instants”) but rather a multi-faceted endeavor toward gaining perspective upon that object, a perspective which absolutely necessitated distance. Dickinson characterizes the relationship between the perceiver and the perceived as paradoxically self-defeating, precisely: “Perception of an object costs / Precise the Object’s loss” (P 1071). What this means is that; 1) in order to see something, one must be separate from it and that 2) complete identification with an object necessarily precludes one’s perception of it. The most impressive and ominous logical off-shoot of this (one that resurfaces under innumerable guises throughout the Dickinson canon) is that in order to really know the capital concepts of God or Truth, to know anything at all, the singular identity of the perceiver must cease to exist.
But if the quest cannot be completed short of death, let alone organized into a single coherent thrust, individual moments of vision–attainments of true perspective–can be recorded, shaped into discrete poetic wholes. In order to place herself–a poet working “at night”–in an appropriate relationship to “noon,” the object of quest, it was necessary to experiment constantly with visionary perspectives in her poems; thus the poems often appear as fictions, the arguments of artificial personae bound to deliberately static (and therefore imperfect) perspectives. Some of these personae utter seemingly profound truths, but often the fictions also subtly qualify the speakers’ claims; sometimes the personae are still naive, in the state of innocence–and their naïveté is obvious, rather pathetic; and on occasion the speakers simply make fools of themselves.
To understand the complexity of Dickinson’s quest is to become sensitive to her various, often cunning uses of personae and their inadequately recognized affect: dramatic irony. To this affect, she creates a variety of fictions whose personae represent differing postures and attitudes toward the quest itself. Some speakers are self-deluding, others are merely complacent,
and still others make bold claims for the speaker’s own perception and intelligence, her need to scrutinize carefully perceptual relationships–measuring distances, establishing ratios between perceptual gains and losses–and thus her ability to hold her own in her courtship with death. The burden of establishing a link with omnipresence then, for Dickinson, falls not upon faith but upon human perception, which must constantly adjust its focus, never relax into certainty; otherwise, these narrow, artificial conceptions may be mistaken for the infinitely complex reality.
This perpetual shifting of perspectives from one poem to the next gives the body of Dickinson’s work an animated quality, an illusion of movement comprised of a series of flickering glimpses. As such, her poems have often been characterized as fragmentary bits of insight which make up a large, loosely related whole, but actually the opposite is true: the canon itself is fragment while individual poems are each self-contained units, singular perspectives. This is the paradox of a quest which requires numberless strategies, the sum of which–if the number were finite–would succeed in producing complete vision, and thus the poet’s union with it in the act of envisioning, the fulfillment of the quest. In the act of establishing the inextricable relationship between perception and its object’s loss, between artistic gain and personal depravation, she finds her identity and the role of her own “physiognomy” in the quest for immortality.
The noon of spiritual fulfillment is omnipresent, and to achieve it one must have “developed” sophisticated eyes. But since human perception, no matter how shrewdly developed, can sustain only instants of vision, oblique glimpses of immortality, the inevitable state of the human questor is despair. For Dickinson, however, this despair contains the key to its own transcendence, precisely because the energy of her quest is so unflagging, and her understanding of its conditions and limitations so thoroughly clear-sighted. As the poems examined above should indicate, the human night and the spiritual noon have their multi-faceted relationship through the mediation of perception and through the creation of poetic stances which enhance perceptual effectiveness. The following excerpt is a clear statement of the central emotional stance underlying this delicate mediation:
‘Tis failure–not of Hope–
But Confident Despair–
Advancing on Celestial Lists–
With faint–Terrestrial power–
‘Tis Honor–though I die–
For That no Man obtain
Till He be justified by Death–
This–is the Second Gain–
(P 522)
This poem is one of her most ambitious: it charts the poet’s quest from those presumptuous hopes of a naive questor to the “confident despair” which is the poet’s mature stance; and, like much of Dickinson’s canon, it points toward death as the crux of all meaning and relationship. The poem also contains an intense and beautiful pride, claiming the “honor” inherent in a quest that can achieve no sustained fulfillment; this honor itself sustaining and helps maintain the difficult stance of confident despair. The speaker who feels herself “Advancing on Celestial Lists– / With faint–Terrestrial power–“ knows that no certainty or true justification can exist on this side of death; but, if she despairs at the “faintness” of her own vision, she nonetheless remains confident in its relationship with the noon of her pictured fulfillment. Confidence in the reality of grace, despair at its incalculable distance–here the central paradox of Dickinson’s poetic insight, that perception of an object requires its loss, is stated poignantly in terms of her religious/artistic quest as a whole. Only through the effort of her poetic strategies could she alleviate that loss, cultivating a vision of her own questing self and of her position.
POEM 1129 WITH DEFINITIONS
1129
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant - -
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind - -
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant –
TELL
1. give an account or narrative of; narrate; relate (a story, tale, etc.): to tell the story of Lincoln's childhood.
2. to make known by speech or writing (a fact, news, information, etc.); communicate.
3. to announce or proclaim.
4. to utter (the truth, a lie, etc.).
5. to express in words (thoughts, feelings, etc.).
6. to reveal or divulge (something secret or private).
7. to say plainly or positively: I cannot tell just what was done.
8. to discern or recognize (a distant person or thing) so as to be able to identify or describe: Can you tell who that is over there?
9. to distinguish; discriminate; ascertain: You could hardly tell the difference between them.
10. to inform (a person) of something: He told me his name.
11. to assure emphatically: I won't, I tell you!
12. to bid, order, or command: Tell him to stop.
13. to mention one after another, as in enumerating; count or set one by one or in exact amount: to tell the cattle in a herd; All told there were 17 if we are correct.
14. to give an account or report: Tell me about your trip.
15. to give evidence or be an indication: The ruined temples told of an ancient culture, long since passed from existence.
16. to disclose something secret or private; inform; tattle: She knows who did it, but she won't tell.
17. to say positively; determine; predict: Who can tell?
18. to have force or effect; operate effectively: a contest in which every stroke tells.
19. to produce a marked or severe effect: The strain was telling on his health.
[Origin: bef. 900; ME tellen, OE tellan to relate, count; c. D tellen to reckon, count, ON telja to count, say, OHG zellén; akin to tale]
—Synonyms 1. recount, describe, report. 2. impart. 4. speak. 6. disclose, betray; acknowledge, own, confess; declare.
TRUTH
1. conformity with fact or reality; verity: the truth of a statement.
2. (often initial capital letter) ideal or fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience: the basic truths of life.
3. Archaic. fidelity or constancy.
4. often Truth That which is considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence.
5. O.E. triew (W.Saxon), treow (Mercian) "faithfulness, quality of being true," from triewe, treowe "faithful" (see true). Meaning "accuracy, correctness" is from 1570. Unlike lie (v.), there is no primary verb in Eng. for "speak the truth." Noun sense of "something that is true" is first recorded c.1362.
6. Used in various senses in Scripture. In Prov. 12:17, 19, it denotes that which is opposed to falsehood. In Isa. 59:14, 15, Jer. 7:28, it means fidelity or truthfulness. The doctrine of Christ is called "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5), "the truth" (2 Tim. 3:7; 4:4). Our Lord says of himself, "I am the way, and the truth" (John 14:6).
SLANT
1. to veer or angle away from a given level or line, esp. from a horizontal; slope.
2. to have or be influenced by a subjective point of view, bias, personal feeling or inclination, etc. (usually fol. by toward).
3. to distort (information) by rendering it unfaithfully or incompletely, esp. in order to reflect a particular viewpoint: He slanted the news story to discredit the Administration.
4. to write, edit, or publish for the interest or amusement of a specific group of readers: a story slanted toward young adults.
5. viewpoint; opinion; attitude: Let him give you his slant.
Success in Circuit lies
SUCCESS
1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
CIRCUIT
1. a circular journey or one beginning and ending at the same place; a round.
2. a periodical journey from place to place, to perform certain duties, as by judges to hold court, ministers to preach, or salespeople covering a route.
3. the line going around or bounding any area or object; the distance about an area or object.
4. 1382, from O.Fr. circuit, from L. circuitus "a going around," from stem of circuire, circumire "go around," from circum "around" + -ire "to go." Electrical sense is from 1800; circuitry is from 1946. Circuitous is from 1664.
LIES
1. To occupy a position or place: The lake lies beyond this hill.
2. To be buried in a specified place.
3. To be decided by, dependent on, or up to: The choice lies with you.
4. Archaic To have sexual intercourse with.
5. A false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood.
6. Something meant to deceive or give a wrong impression.
Too bright for our infirm Delight
BRIGHT
1. radiating or reflecting light; luminous; shining: The bright coins shone in the gloom.
2. quick-witted or intelligent: They gave promotions to bright employees.
3. animated; lively; cheerful: a bright and happy child; a bird's bright song.
4. characterized by happiness or gladness: All the world seems brighT.
5. clear or translucent, as liquid: The bright water trickled through his fingers.
6. intensely clear and vibrant in tone or quality; clear and sharp in sound: a bright singing voice.
7. O.E. bryht, by metathesis from beorht "bright, splendid," from P.Gmc. *berkhiaz, from PIE base *bhereg- "to gleam, white" (cf. Goth. bairhts "bright," Skt. bhrajate "shines, glitters," Lith. breksta "to dawn," Welsh berth "bright, beautiful," L. flagrare "to blaze"). Meaning "quick-witted" is from 1741.
INFIRM
1. feeble or weak in body or health, esp. because of age; ailing.
2. unsteadfast, faltering, or irresolute, as persons or the mind; vacillating: infirm of purpose.
3. not firm, solid, or strong: an infirm support.
4. unsound or invalid, as an argument or a property title.
5. c.1374, "weak, unsound" (of things), from L. infirmus "weak, frail," from in- "not" + firmus (see firm (adj.)). Of persons, "not strong, unhealthy," first recorded 1605.
DELIGHT
1. a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment; joy; rapture: She takes great delight in her job.
2. c.1225, delit, from O.Fr. delit, from delitier "please greatly, charm," from L. delectare "to allure, delight," freq. of delicere "entice" (see delicious). Spelled delite until 16c. when it changed under infl. of light, flight, etc.
The Truth's superb surprise
SUPERB
1. admirably fine or excellent; extremely good: a superb performance.
2. sumptuous; rich; grand: superb jewels.
3. of a proudly imposing appearance or kind; majestic: superb mountain vistas.
4. [Origin: 1540–50; < L superbus proud, superior, excellent, equiv. to super- super- + -bus adj. suffix (akin to be)]
SURPRISE
1. an assault, as on an army or a fort, made without warning.
2. a coming upon unexpectedly; detecting in the act; taking unawares.
3. [Origin: 1425–75; (n.) late ME < AF surpris(e), MF, ptp. of surprendre, equiv. to sur- sur-1 + pris (masc.), prise (fem.) < L prénsus, -sa, equiv. to prénd(ere), contracted var. of prehendere to take (see prehension) + -tus, -ta ptp. suffix; (v.) late ME surprisen < AF surpris(e) (ptp.), MF, as above]
4. Something, such as an unexpected encounter, event, or gift, that surprises.
5. c.1457, "unexpected attack or capture," from M.Fr. surprise "a taking unawares," from noun use of pp. of O.Fr. surprendre "to overtake," from sur- "over" + prendre "to take," from L. prendere, contracted from prehendere "to grasp, seize" (see prehensile). Meaning "something unexpected" first recorded 1592, that of "feeling caused by something unexpected" is 1608. Meaning "fancy dish" is attested from 1708.
6. a condition or situation in which a party to a proceeding is unexpectedly placed without any fault or neglect of his or her own and that entitles the party to relief (as a new trial)
7. an aspect of procedural unconscionability that consists of hiding a term of a contract in a mass of text
As Lightning to the Children eased
LIGHTNING
1. a brilliant electric spark discharge in the atmosphere, occurring within a thundercloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground.
2. Informal A sudden, usually improbable stroke of fortune.
3. c.1280, prp. of lightnen "make bright," extended form of O.E. lihting, from leht (see light (n.)). Meaning "cheap, raw whiskey" is attested from 1781. Lightning bug is attested from 1778.
4. frequently referred to by the sacred writers (Nah. 1:3-6). Thunder and lightning are spoken of as tokens of God's wrath (2 Sam. 22:15; Job 28:26; 37:4; Ps. 135:7; 144:6; Zech. 9:14). They represent God's glorious and awful majesty (Rev. 4:5), or some judgment of God on the world (20:9).
CHILD
1. a baby or infant.
2. Any thing regarded as the product or result of particular agencies, influences: Abstract art is a child of the 20th century.
3. with child, pregnant: She's with child.
4. [Origin: bef. 950; ME; OE cild; akin to Goth kilthai womb]
EASED
1. to free from anxiety or care: to ease one's mind.
2. to mitigate, lighten, or lessen: to ease pain.
3. to release from pressure, tension, or the like.
4. to move or shift with great care:
5. to remove from a position of authority, a job, or the like, esp. by methods intended to be tactful: He was eased out as division head to make way for the boss's nephew.
6. Military. a position of rest in which soldiers may relax but may not leave their places or talk.
7. [Origin: 1175–1225; (n.) ME ese, eise < AF ese, OF aise, eise comfort, convenience < VL *adjace(m), acc. of *adjacés vicinity (cf. ML in aiace in (the) vicinity), the regular outcome of L adjacéns adjacent, taken in VL as a n. of the type nūbés, acc. nūbem cloud; (v.) ME esen < AF e(i)ser, OF aisier, deriv. of the n.]
With explanation kind
EXPLANATION
1. a meaning or interpretation: to find an explanation for a mystery.
2. a mutual declaration of the meaning of words spoken, actions, motives, etc., with a view to adjusting a misunderstanding or reconciling differences: After a long and emotional explanation they were friends again.
3. [Origin: 1350–1400; ME explanacioun < L explānātiōn- (s. of explānātiō), equiv. to explānāt(us) (see explanate) + -iōn- -ion]
4. 1382, from L. explanationem noun of action from explanare "to make plain or clear, explain," lit. "make level, flatten," from ex- "out" + planus "flat." Originally explane, spelling altered by infl. of plain. The verb explain is first attested 1513.
KIND
1. of a good or benevolent nature or disposition, as a person: a kind and loving person
2. .[Origin: bef. 900; ME kind(e) natural, well-disposed, OE gecynde natural, genial1. See kind2]
3. a class or group of individual objects, people, animals, etc., of the same nature or character, or classified together because they have traits in common; category: Our dog is the same kind as theirs.
4. nature or character as determining likeness or difference between things: These differ in degree rather than in kind.
5. Obsolete. gender; sex.
6. a more or less adequate or inadequate example of something; sort: The vines formed a kind of roof.
7. [Origin: bef. 900; ME kinde, OE gecynd nature, race, origin; c. ON kyndi, OHG kikunt, L géns (gen. gentis); see kin]
8. "class, sort, variety," from O.E. gecynd "kind, nature, race," related to cynn "family" (see kin), from P.Gmc. *gakundiz (see kind (adj.)). ∆lfric's rendition of "the Book of Genesis" into O.E. came out gecyndboc. The prefix disappeared 1150-1250. No exact cognates beyond Eng., but it corresponds to adj. endings such as Goth -kunds, O.H.G. -kund. Also as a suffix (mankind, etc.). Other earlier, now obs., senses in Eng. included "character, quality derived from birth" and "manner or way natural or proper to anyone." Use in phrase a kind of (1591)
9. "friendly," from O.E. gecynde "natural, native, innate," originally "with the feeling of relatives for each other," from P.Gmc. *gakundiz, from *kunjan (see kin), with collective prefix *ga- and abstract suffix *-iz. Sense development from "with natural feelings," to "well-disposed" (c.1300), "benign, compassionate" (1297).
The Truth must dazzle gradually
DAZZLE
1. to overpower or dim the vision of by intense light: He was dazzled by the sudden sunlight.
2. to impress deeply; astonish with delight: The glorious palace dazzled him.
3. to shine or reflect brilliantly: gems dazzling in the sunlight.
4. to excite admiration by brilliance: Once one is accustomed to such splendor, it no longer dazzles.
5. 1481, frequentative of M.E. dasen (see daze). Originally intrans.; the trans. sense is from 1536.
GRADUALLY
1. taking place, changing, moving, etc., by small degrees or little by little: gradual improvement in health.
2. rising or descending at an even, moderate inclination: a gradual slope.
3. an antiphon sung between the Epistle and the Gospel in the Eucharistic service.
4. a book containing the words and music of the parts of the liturgy that are sung by the choir.
5. [Origin: 1375–1425; late ME < ML graduālis pertaining to steps, graduāle the part of the service sung as the choir stood on the altar steps, equiv. to L gradu(s) step, grade + -ālis -al1
Or every man be blind –
EVERY
1. Everyman was the name of the leading character in a 15c. morality play.
MAN
1. an adult male person, as distinguished from a boy or a woman.
2. the human individual as representing the species, without reference to sex; the human race; humankind: Man hopes for peace, but prepares for war.
3. a husband.
4. a male lover or sweetheart.
5. a male follower or subordinate: the king's men.
6. an enthusiast or devotee: I'm essentially a classics man.
7. Obsolete. manly character or courage.
8. O.E. man, mann "human being, person," from P.Gmc. *manwaz (cf. O.S., O.H.G. man, Ger. Mann, O.N. mar, Goth. manna "man"), from PIE base *man- (cf. Skt. manuh, Avestan manu-, O.C.S. mozi, Rus. muzh "man, male"). Sometimes connected to root *men- "to think" (see mind), which would make the ground sense of man "one who has intelligence," but not all linguists accept this. Plural men (Ger. M‰nner) shows effects of i-mutation. Sense of "adult male" is late (c.1000); O.E. used wer and wif to distinguish the sexes, but wer began to disappear late 13c. and was replaced by man. Universal sense of the word remains in mankind (from O.E. mancynn, from cynn "kin") and in manslaughter (q.v.). Similarly, L. had homo "human being" and vir "adult male human being," but they merged in V.L., with homo extended to both senses. A like evolution took place in Slavic languages, and in some of them the word has narrowed to mean "husband." PIE had two stems: *uiHro "freeman" (cf. Skt. vira-, Lith. vyras, L. vir, O.Ir. fer, Goth. wair) and *hner "man," a title more of honor than *uiHro (cf. Skt. nar-, Armenian ayr, Welsh ner, Gk. aner). The chess pieces so called from c.1400. As an interjection of surprise or emphasis, first recorded c.1400, but especially popular from early 20c. Man-about-town is from 1734; the Man "the boss" is from 1918. Men's Liberation first attested
BLIND
1. unable to see; lacking the sense of sight; sightless: a blind man.
2. unwilling or unable to perceive or understand: They were blind to their children's faults. He was blind to all arguments.
3. not characterized or determined by reason or control: blind tenacity; blind chance.
4. not having or based on reason or intelligence; absolute and unquestioning: She had blind faith in his fidelity.
5. lacking all consciousness or awareness: a blind stupor.
6. hard to see or understand: blind reasoning.
7. hidden from immediate view, esp. from oncoming motorists: a blind corner.
8. having no outlets; closed at one end: a blind passage; a blind mountain pass.
9. made without some prior knowledge: a blind purchase; a blind lead in a card game.
10. [Origin: bef. 1000; (adj.) ME blind, OE; c. Goth blinds, ON blindr, G, D blind (< Gmc *blindaz, perh. akin to blend; original sense uncert.); (v.) ME blinden, deriv. of the adj.]
11. O.E. blind "blind," probably sharing with blend a P.Gmc. base *blindaz, from PIE base *bhlendh- "to glimmer indistinctly, to mix, confuse" (cf. Lith. blendzas "blind," blesti "to become dark"). The original sense, not of "sightless," but of "confused," perhaps underlies such phrases as blind alley. The verb is O.E. blendan, influenced in M.E. by the adj. The noun meaning "anything that obstructs sight" is from 1535. Blindman's bluff is from 1590. Blind date is from 1920s. Blind side "unguarded aspect" is from 1606; the verb meaning "to hit from the blind side" (written as one word) first attested 1968, Amer.Eng., in ref. to U.S. football.
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant - -
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind - -
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant –
TELL
1. give an account or narrative of; narrate; relate (a story, tale, etc.): to tell the story of Lincoln's childhood.
2. to make known by speech or writing (a fact, news, information, etc.); communicate.
3. to announce or proclaim.
4. to utter (the truth, a lie, etc.).
5. to express in words (thoughts, feelings, etc.).
6. to reveal or divulge (something secret or private).
7. to say plainly or positively: I cannot tell just what was done.
8. to discern or recognize (a distant person or thing) so as to be able to identify or describe: Can you tell who that is over there?
9. to distinguish; discriminate; ascertain: You could hardly tell the difference between them.
10. to inform (a person) of something: He told me his name.
11. to assure emphatically: I won't, I tell you!
12. to bid, order, or command: Tell him to stop.
13. to mention one after another, as in enumerating; count or set one by one or in exact amount: to tell the cattle in a herd; All told there were 17 if we are correct.
14. to give an account or report: Tell me about your trip.
15. to give evidence or be an indication: The ruined temples told of an ancient culture, long since passed from existence.
16. to disclose something secret or private; inform; tattle: She knows who did it, but she won't tell.
17. to say positively; determine; predict: Who can tell?
18. to have force or effect; operate effectively: a contest in which every stroke tells.
19. to produce a marked or severe effect: The strain was telling on his health.
[Origin: bef. 900; ME tellen, OE tellan to relate, count; c. D tellen to reckon, count, ON telja to count, say, OHG zellén; akin to tale]
—Synonyms 1. recount, describe, report. 2. impart. 4. speak. 6. disclose, betray; acknowledge, own, confess; declare.
TRUTH
1. conformity with fact or reality; verity: the truth of a statement.
2. (often initial capital letter) ideal or fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience: the basic truths of life.
3. Archaic. fidelity or constancy.
4. often Truth That which is considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence.
5. O.E. triew (W.Saxon), treow (Mercian) "faithfulness, quality of being true," from triewe, treowe "faithful" (see true). Meaning "accuracy, correctness" is from 1570. Unlike lie (v.), there is no primary verb in Eng. for "speak the truth." Noun sense of "something that is true" is first recorded c.1362.
6. Used in various senses in Scripture. In Prov. 12:17, 19, it denotes that which is opposed to falsehood. In Isa. 59:14, 15, Jer. 7:28, it means fidelity or truthfulness. The doctrine of Christ is called "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5), "the truth" (2 Tim. 3:7; 4:4). Our Lord says of himself, "I am the way, and the truth" (John 14:6).
SLANT
1. to veer or angle away from a given level or line, esp. from a horizontal; slope.
2. to have or be influenced by a subjective point of view, bias, personal feeling or inclination, etc. (usually fol. by toward).
3. to distort (information) by rendering it unfaithfully or incompletely, esp. in order to reflect a particular viewpoint: He slanted the news story to discredit the Administration.
4. to write, edit, or publish for the interest or amusement of a specific group of readers: a story slanted toward young adults.
5. viewpoint; opinion; attitude: Let him give you his slant.
Success in Circuit lies
SUCCESS
1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
CIRCUIT
1. a circular journey or one beginning and ending at the same place; a round.
2. a periodical journey from place to place, to perform certain duties, as by judges to hold court, ministers to preach, or salespeople covering a route.
3. the line going around or bounding any area or object; the distance about an area or object.
4. 1382, from O.Fr. circuit, from L. circuitus "a going around," from stem of circuire, circumire "go around," from circum "around" + -ire "to go." Electrical sense is from 1800; circuitry is from 1946. Circuitous is from 1664.
LIES
1. To occupy a position or place: The lake lies beyond this hill.
2. To be buried in a specified place.
3. To be decided by, dependent on, or up to: The choice lies with you.
4. Archaic To have sexual intercourse with.
5. A false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood.
6. Something meant to deceive or give a wrong impression.
Too bright for our infirm Delight
BRIGHT
1. radiating or reflecting light; luminous; shining: The bright coins shone in the gloom.
2. quick-witted or intelligent: They gave promotions to bright employees.
3. animated; lively; cheerful: a bright and happy child; a bird's bright song.
4. characterized by happiness or gladness: All the world seems brighT.
5. clear or translucent, as liquid: The bright water trickled through his fingers.
6. intensely clear and vibrant in tone or quality; clear and sharp in sound: a bright singing voice.
7. O.E. bryht, by metathesis from beorht "bright, splendid," from P.Gmc. *berkhiaz, from PIE base *bhereg- "to gleam, white" (cf. Goth. bairhts "bright," Skt. bhrajate "shines, glitters," Lith. breksta "to dawn," Welsh berth "bright, beautiful," L. flagrare "to blaze"). Meaning "quick-witted" is from 1741.
INFIRM
1. feeble or weak in body or health, esp. because of age; ailing.
2. unsteadfast, faltering, or irresolute, as persons or the mind; vacillating: infirm of purpose.
3. not firm, solid, or strong: an infirm support.
4. unsound or invalid, as an argument or a property title.
5. c.1374, "weak, unsound" (of things), from L. infirmus "weak, frail," from in- "not" + firmus (see firm (adj.)). Of persons, "not strong, unhealthy," first recorded 1605.
DELIGHT
1. a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment; joy; rapture: She takes great delight in her job.
2. c.1225, delit, from O.Fr. delit, from delitier "please greatly, charm," from L. delectare "to allure, delight," freq. of delicere "entice" (see delicious). Spelled delite until 16c. when it changed under infl. of light, flight, etc.
The Truth's superb surprise
SUPERB
1. admirably fine or excellent; extremely good: a superb performance.
2. sumptuous; rich; grand: superb jewels.
3. of a proudly imposing appearance or kind; majestic: superb mountain vistas.
4. [Origin: 1540–50; < L superbus proud, superior, excellent, equiv. to super- super- + -bus adj. suffix (akin to be)]
SURPRISE
1. an assault, as on an army or a fort, made without warning.
2. a coming upon unexpectedly; detecting in the act; taking unawares.
3. [Origin: 1425–75; (n.) late ME < AF surpris(e), MF, ptp. of surprendre, equiv. to sur- sur-1 + pris (masc.), prise (fem.) < L prénsus, -sa, equiv. to prénd(ere), contracted var. of prehendere to take (see prehension) + -tus, -ta ptp. suffix; (v.) late ME surprisen < AF surpris(e) (ptp.), MF, as above]
4. Something, such as an unexpected encounter, event, or gift, that surprises.
5. c.1457, "unexpected attack or capture," from M.Fr. surprise "a taking unawares," from noun use of pp. of O.Fr. surprendre "to overtake," from sur- "over" + prendre "to take," from L. prendere, contracted from prehendere "to grasp, seize" (see prehensile). Meaning "something unexpected" first recorded 1592, that of "feeling caused by something unexpected" is 1608. Meaning "fancy dish" is attested from 1708.
6. a condition or situation in which a party to a proceeding is unexpectedly placed without any fault or neglect of his or her own and that entitles the party to relief (as a new trial)
7. an aspect of procedural unconscionability that consists of hiding a term of a contract in a mass of text
As Lightning to the Children eased
LIGHTNING
1. a brilliant electric spark discharge in the atmosphere, occurring within a thundercloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground.
2. Informal A sudden, usually improbable stroke of fortune.
3. c.1280, prp. of lightnen "make bright," extended form of O.E. lihting, from leht (see light (n.)). Meaning "cheap, raw whiskey" is attested from 1781. Lightning bug is attested from 1778.
4. frequently referred to by the sacred writers (Nah. 1:3-6). Thunder and lightning are spoken of as tokens of God's wrath (2 Sam. 22:15; Job 28:26; 37:4; Ps. 135:7; 144:6; Zech. 9:14). They represent God's glorious and awful majesty (Rev. 4:5), or some judgment of God on the world (20:9).
CHILD
1. a baby or infant.
2. Any thing regarded as the product or result of particular agencies, influences: Abstract art is a child of the 20th century.
3. with child, pregnant: She's with child.
4. [Origin: bef. 950; ME; OE cild; akin to Goth kilthai womb]
EASED
1. to free from anxiety or care: to ease one's mind.
2. to mitigate, lighten, or lessen: to ease pain.
3. to release from pressure, tension, or the like.
4. to move or shift with great care:
5. to remove from a position of authority, a job, or the like, esp. by methods intended to be tactful: He was eased out as division head to make way for the boss's nephew.
6. Military. a position of rest in which soldiers may relax but may not leave their places or talk.
7. [Origin: 1175–1225; (n.) ME ese, eise < AF ese, OF aise, eise comfort, convenience < VL *adjace(m), acc. of *adjacés vicinity (cf. ML in aiace in (the) vicinity), the regular outcome of L adjacéns adjacent, taken in VL as a n. of the type nūbés, acc. nūbem cloud; (v.) ME esen < AF e(i)ser, OF aisier, deriv. of the n.]
With explanation kind
EXPLANATION
1. a meaning or interpretation: to find an explanation for a mystery.
2. a mutual declaration of the meaning of words spoken, actions, motives, etc., with a view to adjusting a misunderstanding or reconciling differences: After a long and emotional explanation they were friends again.
3. [Origin: 1350–1400; ME explanacioun < L explānātiōn- (s. of explānātiō), equiv. to explānāt(us) (see explanate) + -iōn- -ion]
4. 1382, from L. explanationem noun of action from explanare "to make plain or clear, explain," lit. "make level, flatten," from ex- "out" + planus "flat." Originally explane, spelling altered by infl. of plain. The verb explain is first attested 1513.
KIND
1. of a good or benevolent nature or disposition, as a person: a kind and loving person
2. .[Origin: bef. 900; ME kind(e) natural, well-disposed, OE gecynde natural, genial1. See kind2]
3. a class or group of individual objects, people, animals, etc., of the same nature or character, or classified together because they have traits in common; category: Our dog is the same kind as theirs.
4. nature or character as determining likeness or difference between things: These differ in degree rather than in kind.
5. Obsolete. gender; sex.
6. a more or less adequate or inadequate example of something; sort: The vines formed a kind of roof.
7. [Origin: bef. 900; ME kinde, OE gecynd nature, race, origin; c. ON kyndi, OHG kikunt, L géns (gen. gentis); see kin]
8. "class, sort, variety," from O.E. gecynd "kind, nature, race," related to cynn "family" (see kin), from P.Gmc. *gakundiz (see kind (adj.)). ∆lfric's rendition of "the Book of Genesis" into O.E. came out gecyndboc. The prefix disappeared 1150-1250. No exact cognates beyond Eng., but it corresponds to adj. endings such as Goth -kunds, O.H.G. -kund. Also as a suffix (mankind, etc.). Other earlier, now obs., senses in Eng. included "character, quality derived from birth" and "manner or way natural or proper to anyone." Use in phrase a kind of (1591)
9. "friendly," from O.E. gecynde "natural, native, innate," originally "with the feeling of relatives for each other," from P.Gmc. *gakundiz, from *kunjan (see kin), with collective prefix *ga- and abstract suffix *-iz. Sense development from "with natural feelings," to "well-disposed" (c.1300), "benign, compassionate" (1297).
The Truth must dazzle gradually
DAZZLE
1. to overpower or dim the vision of by intense light: He was dazzled by the sudden sunlight.
2. to impress deeply; astonish with delight: The glorious palace dazzled him.
3. to shine or reflect brilliantly: gems dazzling in the sunlight.
4. to excite admiration by brilliance: Once one is accustomed to such splendor, it no longer dazzles.
5. 1481, frequentative of M.E. dasen (see daze). Originally intrans.; the trans. sense is from 1536.
GRADUALLY
1. taking place, changing, moving, etc., by small degrees or little by little: gradual improvement in health.
2. rising or descending at an even, moderate inclination: a gradual slope.
3. an antiphon sung between the Epistle and the Gospel in the Eucharistic service.
4. a book containing the words and music of the parts of the liturgy that are sung by the choir.
5. [Origin: 1375–1425; late ME < ML graduālis pertaining to steps, graduāle the part of the service sung as the choir stood on the altar steps, equiv. to L gradu(s) step, grade + -ālis -al1
Or every man be blind –
EVERY
1. Everyman was the name of the leading character in a 15c. morality play.
MAN
1. an adult male person, as distinguished from a boy or a woman.
2. the human individual as representing the species, without reference to sex; the human race; humankind: Man hopes for peace, but prepares for war.
3. a husband.
4. a male lover or sweetheart.
5. a male follower or subordinate: the king's men.
6. an enthusiast or devotee: I'm essentially a classics man.
7. Obsolete. manly character or courage.
8. O.E. man, mann "human being, person," from P.Gmc. *manwaz (cf. O.S., O.H.G. man, Ger. Mann, O.N. mar, Goth. manna "man"), from PIE base *man- (cf. Skt. manuh, Avestan manu-, O.C.S. mozi, Rus. muzh "man, male"). Sometimes connected to root *men- "to think" (see mind), which would make the ground sense of man "one who has intelligence," but not all linguists accept this. Plural men (Ger. M‰nner) shows effects of i-mutation. Sense of "adult male" is late (c.1000); O.E. used wer and wif to distinguish the sexes, but wer began to disappear late 13c. and was replaced by man. Universal sense of the word remains in mankind (from O.E. mancynn, from cynn "kin") and in manslaughter (q.v.). Similarly, L. had homo "human being" and vir "adult male human being," but they merged in V.L., with homo extended to both senses. A like evolution took place in Slavic languages, and in some of them the word has narrowed to mean "husband." PIE had two stems: *uiHro "freeman" (cf. Skt. vira-, Lith. vyras, L. vir, O.Ir. fer, Goth. wair) and *hner "man," a title more of honor than *uiHro (cf. Skt. nar-, Armenian ayr, Welsh ner, Gk. aner). The chess pieces so called from c.1400. As an interjection of surprise or emphasis, first recorded c.1400, but especially popular from early 20c. Man-about-town is from 1734; the Man "the boss" is from 1918. Men's Liberation first attested
BLIND
1. unable to see; lacking the sense of sight; sightless: a blind man.
2. unwilling or unable to perceive or understand: They were blind to their children's faults. He was blind to all arguments.
3. not characterized or determined by reason or control: blind tenacity; blind chance.
4. not having or based on reason or intelligence; absolute and unquestioning: She had blind faith in his fidelity.
5. lacking all consciousness or awareness: a blind stupor.
6. hard to see or understand: blind reasoning.
7. hidden from immediate view, esp. from oncoming motorists: a blind corner.
8. having no outlets; closed at one end: a blind passage; a blind mountain pass.
9. made without some prior knowledge: a blind purchase; a blind lead in a card game.
10. [Origin: bef. 1000; (adj.) ME blind, OE; c. Goth blinds, ON blindr, G, D blind (< Gmc *blindaz, perh. akin to blend; original sense uncert.); (v.) ME blinden, deriv. of the adj.]
11. O.E. blind "blind," probably sharing with blend a P.Gmc. base *blindaz, from PIE base *bhlendh- "to glimmer indistinctly, to mix, confuse" (cf. Lith. blendzas "blind," blesti "to become dark"). The original sense, not of "sightless," but of "confused," perhaps underlies such phrases as blind alley. The verb is O.E. blendan, influenced in M.E. by the adj. The noun meaning "anything that obstructs sight" is from 1535. Blindman's bluff is from 1590. Blind date is from 1920s. Blind side "unguarded aspect" is from 1606; the verb meaning "to hit from the blind side" (written as one word) first attested 1968, Amer.Eng., in ref. to U.S. football.
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