Emily Dickenson wrote a very empowering poem and it goes as follows.
Opinion is a flitting thing,
But Truth, outlasts the Sun —
If then we cannot own them both —
Possess the oldest one —
If I were to BEGIN to understand this poem, I'd first break it down.
First I'll break down the words:
Opinion- The voice of someone else on a topic. Their own ideas or thoughts.
Flitting- To move swiftly or lightly.
2. The act of leaving ones home. Usually to escape conflicts.
Truth- To tell the truth, the opposite of telling a lie. To say only what really happened, without cutting out details.
Sun- The planet in which earth and the other planets circle around. Creates heat,energy and light for everything.
Possess- To possess, to have in your hands to own something or someone.
With an understanding of the words the poem to me makes a lot more sense! Now instead of focusing on words I can focus on the chunks of words.
Opinion is a flitting thing - Opinions are swift, short lived.
But truth outlasts the Sun- The truth is more powerful than the opinions. It lasts longer in our minds.
If we cannot own them both- If you can't have your opinions and the truth at the same time,
Possess the oldest one- Keep the truth. It's what has evidence and proof that your opinion isn't as real as you thought.
Now I'll put the poem into my own words in the same style the author had.
Opinions are short and light.
But the truth, can live longer than the Sun,
If you cannot have them both,
Than take the oldest (Truth)
one.
Since this is still a little confusing, I'll break it down into a song. Perhaps one about two girls trying to understand each others parts of an argument. This will help me interpret the poem better, instead of a poem this is a song. Song's have stories behind them so this will help me visualize what the author was trying to see.
You say yes, I say no, (arguing)
You say it's something you don't know, ( you don't know the truth )
Our thoughts soon fade away, ( the opinions are going away because of the truth )
but the sun shines bright on the day. ( Your opinions are still in your mind )
I can't keep both, my ideas and truth, ( You can stay true to both parts of the idea )
so I must take, the oldest route. ( so you take the truth. )
Now, with all this information I'll tell you what I found out the poem means to me.
To me, this poem by Emily Dickenson means to stay true to the real facts. If you always believed something and suddenly found out you were wrong by proof and real facts, You should keep the truth. Opinions always change and you need to understand that the truth is there to proove opinions wrong. Just because someone proves you wrong doesn't always mean it's true. But you should always research your opinions to see if you were thinking the right things. This is what keeps you at peace! It allows you freedom of thought and speech and it lets you voice the truth. The truth of what YOU know is never always what others have opinions for.
-Sam
