(10 December 1830 – 15 May 1886 / Amherst / Massachusetts)

poet Emily Dickinson
#5 on top 500 poets
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A Secret told

381

A Secret told—
Ceases to be a Secret—then—
A Secret—kept—
That—can appal but One—

Better of it—continual be afraid—
Than it—
And Whom you told it to—beside—

Submitted: Monday, January 13, 2003

Comments about this poem (A Secret told by Emily Dickinson )

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  • LA SOMBRA (1/10/2012 12:12:00 PM)

    THIS POEM IS OF WHICH I CAN'T UNDERSTAND

    5 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • CourtneyJae noggle (2/16/2010 9:55:00 AM)

    but keeping secrets could be bad..
    If they involved your friends around you..
    you should never keep secrets then..

    1 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • Anthony Foster (1/10/2010 4:32:00 PM)

    A secret can be a responsibility,
    That tears at the fabric of the soul,
    Never to be revealed on pain of disloyalty,
    A burden hidden beneath like a shoal,
    Ready to cause shipwreck and grief.

    3 person liked.
    		1 person did not like.
  • Aira Olayvar (1/10/2010 7:13:00 AM)

    Your friend’s secrets to you might be entrusted, but once you disclose it, you dishonor not just the secret, not just a friend, but you yourself…

    Even how close are we to our friends, we must always keep ourselves our best of friend… to be furtive. In order to live freely and not by the hands of those who felt in-control over us just because they knew something from us.

    3 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • Indira Renganathan (1/10/2010 3:31:00 AM)

    A secret...once told...no more a secret...yet a bothering secret....Emily Dickinson is great for ever

    0 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • Ramesh T A (1/10/2010 2:14:00 AM)

    A thing of secret develops only suspicion always between two or more! No secret can ever remain a secret at all when it is once let out to anyone! That is the nature of secret!

    2 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • Michael Pruchnicki (1/10/2009 12:37:00 PM)

    The cryptic lines of 'A Secret told' convey the essence of a message from Emily Dickinson as she crouches behind that partly open door, like a visitor from some distant and dark planet of the soul. The reader pauses to parse the words and the line breaks, all of a piece with the poet's intent. After all, as Emily said, 'much madness is divinest sense /to a discerning eye. /Much sense the starkest madness...'

    Consider well before you blurt out the secret!

    0 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • okeydokey #3 (1/10/2008 7:03:00 PM)

    do not...dishonor the secret...or the person one could tell...by telling them...

    0 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • Erik Lee (1/10/2008 3:14:00 PM)

    Isn't a secret told a possible break in your social image? Isn't Emily message: better scared than humilated?

    2 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • Mo. (1/10/2008 2:31:00 PM)

    It sounds like,

    She rather keep a secret about herself,
    Then tell others and be humiliated.

    0 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
Read all 13 comments »

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