Analysis of Much Madness is Divinest Sense by Emily Dickinson

In the poem “Much Madness is Divinest Sense”, By Emily Dickinson talks about the two kinds of people that excises in society. The poem start with the person’s “Madness”, Dickinson says “Much Madness is divinest Sense-To a discerning Eye” this means that a person may look like they don’t know what they are talking about or they have a different opinion than the rest of society. In society now a days if you have a different opinion on something or say something is good or bad, people may look at you different. Not everyone thinks the same, every single person has his or hers little world in their head that is complexly different than others. Lot of people that I personally know have change their idea or the way they think just because society

The poetry of Emily Dickinson is one of the most recognizable of the 19th century. Dickinson’s poetry stands out because of its unconventional use of capitalization and punctuation. Her poems contain capitalized words which are not normally capitalized. Her poems are noted for the frequent use of the dash. Literary scholars have attempted to interpret Dickinson’s unconventional capitalization and punctuation. Some believe that it was merely part of Dickinson’s penmanship (Weisbuch 73). They therefore edit Dickinson’s poetry and publish them in standardized form. Others believe that the capitalization and punctuation were a conscious effort on Dickinson’s part. These scholars notice the little nuances of Dickinson’s dashes, such as whether

Emily Dickinson was an exceptional writer through the mid-late 1800’s. She never published any of her writings and it wasn’t until after her death that they were even discovered. The complexity of understanding her poems is made prevalent because of the fact that she, the author, cannot expound on what her writing meant. This causes others to have to speculate and decide for themselves the meaning of any of her poems. There are several ways that people can interpret Emily Dickinson’s poems; readers often give their opinion on which of her poems present human understanding as something boundless and unlimited or something small and limited, and people always speculate Dickinson’s view of the individual self.

This provokes the readers' psyche of a lonesome, fragile individual, standing isolated at the end of an dark, treacherous road. This imagery is successfully used to illustrate a portrait of Dickinson, or even the individual reading the piece themselves, as they’re yearning for their new life, which right now is filled with darkness and sorrow. The poem is comprised of five stanzas, each consisting of four lines. The monotonous nature of the poem is nothing gleaming or eye catching, and this is purposely done for the conspicuous fact that sometimes, precious values and things you love are vaporized. With the abandonment of something important, the world does not stop revolving around you and seemingly mold itself for you. It will continue to revolve in the same way it always has for four and half billion years, but now only seeming to be filled with darkness, difficulty and

During the 1800, when death was very prevalent and the most talked about topic on the planet, considering all the literal hundreds of plagues and harsh famines that threatened the population on each continent, a writer emerged with a vivid idea and perception of the insane world that she lived in and the loss that she faced in her life. That writer was none other than Emily Dickinson, the lovely Belle of Amherst who was essentially a recluse who wrote of the sorrows that precede after subjection to social ostracism and the pain that it evokes. She strategically manipulated her words and diction to evoke a strong passion about her craft and her life overall during her time. She wrote of things like the great tragedies

The last two lines of the poem are a timid reflection on what might happen “Had I the Art to stun myself/ With Bolts—of Melody!” (23-24). The idea that creation is a power that can get loose and injure even the creator illuminates why in this poem the artist positions herself firmly as a mere spectator. In these first two poems, we meet a Dickinson who is not entirely familiar to us—even though we are accustomed to her strong desire for privacy, these poems can be startling in the way they reveal the intensity of Dickinson’s fears. She is, after all, shrinking from what is dearest to her—nature, one of her favorite subjects, becomes a harsh judge, and poetry, her favored medium of communication, can suddenly render the reader “impotent” and the writer “stun[ned]” (19, 23). The extremity of her positions in shrinking from the small and beautiful things she loves creates the sense that this is just the beginning of a journey by leaving so much room for change.

Many theatrical works focus on a main character’s thoughts and feelings. This is consistent in Shakespeare’s Hamlet; where he gives insight to Hamlet’s life and situation through dialogue and soliloquies. Comparatively in Emily Dickinson’s poem “Much Madness is Divinest Sense”, she lays the foundation for her philosophical idea of madness with the theme: those who break away from societal norms are often seen as insane, but in reality they are more sane than the conformists in the majority. In order to be able to see the real sanity, one has to break away from the constructs of what is acceptable put in place by the majority of the population. Once someone steps away from the preset normalities placed by others, they are able to see the world

In “Much Madness is the divinest Sense,” Dickinson emphatically establishes a theme of madness within the context of the poem. This poem is rather difficult to read and not feel that it is inspirited by Dickinson’s own life of reclusion, which many have presented as a symptom of her insanity. “Much Madness is the divinest Sense” discombobulates the notion of what’s crazy and what’s not, it’s a piece for every person who has ever pondered “Am I insane…or is the world completely mad?” Dickinson poignantly reveals how what is accepted

She opens the poem reflecting on the start of her first episode, all while personifying her soul telling it sing, but writes that her “strings were snapt.” The string is a metaphor for her mind and the word-choice to describe her mind is identical to the flow of her maniacal brain waves: quick, charged and aggressive. She explains how mind is mended through the pace at which she can put words onto the page. The second day escalates her mind to the point where she loses control over it. Dickinson’s uses of the dash points to the distinctive operation of her thought processes-mind to page. Another poem, They Shut Me Up In Prose” displayed how manic-depressive individuals are mistreated, even shut out due to their uncontrollable behavior. Her state of being influences her judgment and social behaviors and she battles with the idea of “stillness”. The word “still” is almost used as a form of mockery, “Could themselves have peeped — / And seen my Brain – go round — / They might as wise have lodged a Bird / For Treason – in the Pound -.” The bird is used as a metaphor for her mind, to describe the foolishness lodged in a request for her to remain stagnant. The overall theme of outsiders seeking to mute the behavior of patients with mental illness shows the human desire to attempt to mold the unknown to the norms of society. Dickinson’s work has the reader reflect on all the

what the author wants to imply past the surface level of the work. In Emily Dickinson’s poem

This poem talks to the mentally ill. It reminds those living with a psychological disorder that their lives and thinking are valuable. Thus, imagination and enjoyment should not be constrained by the stigma of having a different worldview. Moreover, it uses metaphors to connect both world: the insane and the sane.

While much of Emily Dickinson's poetry has been described as sad or morose, the poetess did use humor and irony in many of her poems. This essay will address the humor and/ or irony found in five of Dickinson's poems: "Faith" is a Fine Invention, I'm Nobody! Who are you?, Some keep the Sabbath Going to Church and Success Is Counted Sweetest. The attempt will be made to show how Dickinson used humor and / or irony for the dual purposes of comic relief and to stress an idea or conclusion about her life and environment expressed by the poetess in the respective poem. The most humorous or ironic are some of the shorter poems, such as the four lined stanzas of "Faith" is a Fine Invention and

Emily Dickinson’s reclusive life was arguably a result of her proposed bi-polar disorder. This life and disorder unduly influenced the themes of her poetry. She chose not to associate herself with society and volumes of her poems, published posthumously, examine this idea as well as the themes of nature and death. The clearest examples of these themes are presented in the following analysis of just of few of her

Dickinson’s poems are easily recognized by her usage of dashes, random capitalization, and no titles. Dickinson frequently uses dashes for a more dramatic tone and adding more power behind her words. For example, in the poem “Death sets a Thing significant,” Dickinson writers, “The stitches stopped -- by themselves –” (XX). In this sentence, the dashes between the words “by themselves” it forces the reader to pause and add a more dramatic tone. It also shows that she tries to add emphasis that nothing influenced the stitches stop it just stopped by itself. In most of her poems she places dashes at the end instead of common punctuation marks in most poet’s poems during her time. For instance, in the poem “ I gave myself to him” the line “ Depreciate the Vision-/ Till the Merchant buys-” demonstrates her usage of dashes to replace the common punctuations ( stanza 3, line 1-2). In addition, she would capitalize words that shouldn’t be capitalized. For instance, in the poem “ I gave myself to him” she wrote “ And took Himself, for Pay,” (Stanza 1,line 2). In this line, the capitalization of himself emphasizes that he didn’t give anything up for this marriage and that she gave up everything in her life. It also emphasizes the inequality in her marriage and society’s view of roles for females as submissive. As a matter of fact, this is also shown in the line “ She rose to His Requirement” from the poem “She Rose to His Requirement- dropt” ( stanza 1, line 1). As in this sentence by capitalizing His she made it seem like he was a higher status than her. During that time, Mount Holyoke Female semistery college adapted these techniques and it led to many believing that she adapted these trademarks because she wanted wanted to gain admission. ( “Major”) Also, Emily Dickinson never title any of her poems. Due to the fact that she never had any intention of publishing her work while she was alive, her work was only published after her death by her family (“Emily”). Dickinson’s poems are mostly filled with metaphors, imagery Almost all of her poems are lyrical which express thoughts and feelings and written in first person point of view ( “Major”). She chose to wrote her poem in a lyrical form and a first person view

In Emily Dickinson’s lyrical poem “There’s a certain slant of light” she describes a revelation that is experienced on cold “winter afternoons.” Further she goes to say that this revelation of self “oppresses, like the Heft of Cathedral Tunes” and causes “Heavenly Hurt”, yet does not scare for it is neither exterior nor permanent. This only leaves it to be an internal feeling, and according to Dickinson that is where all the “Meanings” lie. There’s no way for this feeling to be explained, all that is known is that it is the “Seal Despair”, and an “imperial affliction”. These descriptions have a rather powerful connotation in showing the oppressive nature of his sentiment. There is an official mark of despair and an imperial affliction