ind- Truth is powerful. Often people simply cannot admit it. If complete truth is too powerful, perhaps a circuitous route, coming gradually, so it may not stir incomprehension would serve the teller and listener more effectively. Truth is personified, giving it a life of its own in Dickinson’s poem. The famous quote by Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) still stands true: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Truth, introduced gently would eliminate the frightening stages of the quote. The irony of a hymn-like poem suggesting the “darker edge of truth” gives an eerie quality to the very honesty of Dickinson’s revelation. Then again, perhaps a hymn is what our world needs to face possible unknowns. ...
