Spread all the Lies and do it quick—

I always love Dickinson’s poetry, for it’s simplicity as well as rhythm.  In her poem “Tell All the Truth,” she is stating to always tell the truth of things, but to say it such a way that the listener is not shocked or hurt by it.  Her final line sums this up with, “the Truth must dazzle gradually/ or every man be blind—”  Dickinson has a way of giving advice in her poetry that doesn’t come off too harshly; instead it is motherly.  In this poem, it seems she is summarizes her own poetry in one poem.  I am going to try to write an imitation of the poem, yet make it “anti-truth,” the opposite of the point Dickinson is trying to make.

Spread all the Lies and do it quick—

Success in Deceit proves

Too simple for our infirm Delight

The Falsehood’s grand get-up

Will Sneak into the Brain with ease

With explanation deceiving

The Dishonesty must dazzle increasingly

And every man be fooled—

Dickinson has a way with words that is hard to imitate, especially in her ability to reveal information without blatantly coming out and stating it. For example, she gets across the point of telling the truth gently without straightforwardly saying so.  I found that hard to imitate in my poem.  In the imitation about deceitfulness, I was trying to say (although I do not personally feel this way) that lying can gain you success.  Obviously over time, this has proven to be true in some cases; albeit for a short period of time.  Some lines I did not change, because I thought they made sense in both poems.  This is shown in, “for our infirm Delight,” meaning both the truth and lies can fill one with infirm delight, meaning weak happiness.  This could raise the question if the truth will hurt, should you tell it? According the Dickinson, you should “tell all the truth.”