My first encounter with Emily Dickinson, at least that I remember, was in ninth grade English. Our old, strange, awesome teacher, Mr. Colonell, had us explicate a bunch of poems, including several by Dickinson, and in most cases, I only remember the first few lines. But this one stuck with me.
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 —
*In the interest of full disclosure, I did have to look up capitalizations and the poem number.
I think you should memorize Night Before Christmas. We had to memorize either half of if or the whole poem in 3rd grade. Nikhil was the only one who did the whole darn thing. So in the spirit of 10 weeks til Christmas- MEMORIZE THAT ONE PANNIE!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlso- I recommend Jack Pruletsky. Fun.