Why Emily Dickinson is Known as the Poet of Paradox and Ambiguity?

Emily Dickinson, one of the greatest American poets in history. Known for her unique and original style of writing filled with ambiguity. She always uses the first-person perspective, a speaker who is an ultra-sharp keen observer of the world the speaker is dissolved in and understands some truths about the sphere she lives in or even about God and Death which aren't apparently visible to people around her. Dickinson aka the poet of paradox always involves paradoxes where she contradicts herself, sometimes in a single line itself. Another idiosyncratic characteristic is the dashes, Her writing style incorporates dashes at the end of some but not all lines, some scholars believe that it's just her writing style as they have discovered cooking recipes possibly written by Emily which does incorporate dashes instead of periods but other scholars disagree, points out that it may symbolize the ongoing thought process as she doesn't use it on every line, i.e. a symbolic representation of the place that the mind wanders deep in. Dickinson also seemed to have a deep fascination with death, truth, and sight. She always imaged the loss of sight to death, like in her famous poem 'I heard a fly buzz when I died', the poem ends with the line "I could not see to see" associating lack of sight with death itself. To give you a taste, let's discuss one of her famous poems 'Tell all the truth but tell it slant'

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" seems to be the most unambiguous poem written by Emily Dickinson. The Amherst poet, known for poems that are so ambiguous, peculiar rhymes, and odd manipulation of words, and images seeming mysterious and sometimes in odd places but this poem throws the reader out of the train because this feels so direct. To be honest, people who aren't familiar with Dickinson's poetry might not be able to grasp the feeling and become fully involved. Anyway, shall we take a deep look inside?

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-
Success in Circuit lies

The first line says that Tell the whole truth but tell it slant, what does Dickinson mean by slant truth? Tell all the truth slant meaning it shouldn't be told directly, but indirectly. Second-line she explains "Success in Circuit lies", meaning success in telling the truth can only be achieved from a circuitous or a meandering path, not a straight one, backing her assertion in the first line.

Too bright for our infirm Delight 
The Truth's superb surprise

In the lines preceding, she explains the consequence of telling the whole truth straight up, that the truth is too bright and we're weak and don't have the capacity to handle the truth's superb surprise and we may break. i.e. like electrocuting a machine with a surge of electricity and short-circuiting it.

As Lightning to the Children eased 
With explanation kind 
The Truth must dazzle gradually 
Or every man be blind —

Through the fifth to eighth lines, Dickinson solidifies her philosophy through a simple metaphor of lightning. As Lightning is explained in a simple fashion to ease the children by parents at first and gradually explaining the complexity, Just like that truth must dazzle only gradually otherwise the experience would be like looking straight up at a bolt of lightning with their naked eye, blinded by the sheer brightness. She goes on to tell us, the truth should shine only gradually otherwise every man would be blinded by it.

Through these eight lines of the poem, Emily Dickinson makes us understand that truth is worth telling but cannot be told so direct and head-on. Success in conveying the truth can only be achieved by a slant/ circuitous path.

The poem feels so direct and clear with meaning right? Is it really this simple? Nope, you see Emily Dickinson's poems are always filled with ambiguity, it's never simple to extrapolate meanings of Dickinson's poems, in this case too, we were trapped in the simplicity which in itself is ambiguous. Let's back a bit and take another look.

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-

Right there we have the first ambiguity seeded by Dickinson with the word "all" Does she mean the whole truth by saying "Tell all the truth" or does she mean Tell all - the truth as in telling everyone, tell the world?

Success in Circuit lies

Here we go again, in the previous line truth was a major character but the second one reads "Success in circuit lies" the word "lies" sticks out like a sword in a poem about truth. The line makes us read the word "lies" as resides or where success can be found. But Dickinson also says "circuit lies" which actually contradicts the entire line. The circuit is an important image in the works of Dickinson, circumference is often imaged as the contrast to the circuit, here the circuit means the known arenas of life or simply life as we know it and circumference means the boundaries to which life could be experienced out of which is incomprehensible to human being where infinity/God exists. Keeping this in mind, read the line again. See the ambiguity?

Too bright for our infirm Delight 
The Truth's superb surprise

'Tis my favorite part in the poem 'cause it's the most simple-looking lines yet so much within. So Dickson says truth is a surprise too bright for our infirm or weak delight, literally de-light. Now let me throw you into a paradox if the truth is a surprise that attacks one unexpectedly and one that is so bright that none can handle it then how in the first place one got hands on this truth who then tells it in a slant or circuitous way? Now when we read "The Truth's superb surprise" it feels like the truth has something sinisterly mysterious, "Superb Surprise". Feeling the ambiguity?

As Lightning to the Children eased 
With explanation kind 
The Truth must dazzle gradually 
Or every man be blind —

If we read correctly, "As Lightning eased by the parents to the children", Now look at the other line "The Truth must dazzle gradually" Now take a look at both and you see a problem with the metaphor she used here, stress on "dazzle gradually", it's kind of oxymoronic, something cannot dazzle gradually, either it dazzles or just not, especially a thing like lightning which Emily uses here cannot dazzle gradually, it always happens at an instant. If the truth doesn't dazzle gradually, is she implying that we are already blind?

So there we have it, 'Tell all truth but tell it slant'. Where does she really want to take us? Scholars and I myself an aesthete believe that this is where she exactly wanted to leave us, in a void or vacuum filled with nothingness or uncertainty with a feeling that we'll never know the truth, and will be always blinded. 

This poem is a perfect example of why Emily Dickinson is such a genius poet and known as The Poet of Paradox and Ambiguity. One of the most popular American poets, and one of my favourites.