He Preached Upon ‘Breadth’ Till It Argued Him Narrow
He Preached Upon ‘Breadth’ Till It Argued Him Narrow - meaning Summary
Hypocrisy of Professed Largeness
The poem criticizes a man who loudly preaches generosity and truth but whose behavior contradicts his words. Dickinson shows how grand declarations of "breadth" and "truth" can mask moral narrowness and falsehood. Simplicity and genuine goodness recoil from his counterfeit presence, compared to how real gold rejects pyrite. The speaker suggests that such hypocrisy would distort or obscure the figure of Jesus if they ever met, implying that performative virtue harms the very ideals it claims to uphold. The tone is sharply evaluative and moral, exposing the gap between rhetoric and character.
Read Complete AnalysesHe preached upon ‘Breadth’ till it argued him narrow – The Broad are too broad to define And of ‘Truth’ until it proclaimed him a Liar – The Truth never flaunted a Sign – Simplicity fled from his counterfeit presence As Gold the Pyrites would shun – What confusion would cover the innocent Jesus To meet so enabled a Man!
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