Emily Dickinson

4 Pages 949 Words

Much Madness is Divinest Sense
“Much Madness Is Divinest Sense” was published in Emily Dickinson’s first collection, which was simply called Poems. This poem concentrates on society’s judgmental views of non-conformists. In this essay, I will be explicating this poem line by line paying close attention to the unique capitalization, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, and wordplay.
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
To a discerning Eye—
Much Sense—the starkest Madness—
‘Tis the Majority (1-4)
The “Eye” (2) is a vague image. Dickinson utilizes a synecdoche to further the image of the “Eye” to be representational of a “wise” person who has the power to label behavior “normal” or “mad”.
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
To a discerning Eye—
Much Sense—the starkest Madness—
‘Tis the Majority (1-4)
The poem opens with a statement that is a paradox. The capitalization of “Much Madness” (1) draws the readers focus to and emphasizes the juxtaposition of “Much Madness” (1) and “divinest Sense” (1). Although these words are contradictory, Dickinson finds a relationship in meaning; while society views nonconformists as mad and conformists as sane, it is actually the nonconformist who is sane and the conformists who are mad. Questions that may arise with the first two words in this line might concern what she means by “madness.” Is Dickinson referring to insanity or anger? There is a difference in the degree of madness that’s acceptable and combining “Madness” (1) with “divinest” suggests that not only madness is an important issue but also that it is connected with the divine on some level.
The capitalization of the word “Eye” (2) in the second line emphasizes the pun on the pronoun “I”. When Dickinson writes, “To a discerning Eye” (2) she is specifically referring to the speaker of the poem. The speaker is the “discerning I” (2), they are the one ...