Dickinson and Hughes A Comparison

Emily Camberg Reading Poetry 124L Paper One 11/8/99 After reading both “Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant” by Emily Dickinson and “Harlem” by Langston Hughes, I determined that the main difference between the two poems is both poets’ use of diction. Dickinson makes use of abstract diction in her poem, using words like bright, delight, superb, and dazzle. Using the word “truth” in itself is an enormous abstraction. Hughes, however, uses more concrete diction, …

…Truth takes on this certain aura, where you feel that experiencing it would be something wonderful, and it would dazzle you to no end. Also, as mentioned above, “Harlem” creates the picture of a dream deteriorating, in one way or another. Hughes’s use of language easily put these images in front of us for us to see. Bibliography Kennedy, X.J. and Gioia, Dana. An Introduction to Poetry. 9th ed. New York: Harper Collins, 1994.