“Much Madness is divinest Sense -” Introduction

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“Much Madness is divinest Sense -” Summary

“Much Madness is divinest Sense -” Themes

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  Madness and Conformity

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Much Madness is divinest Sense -”

• Lines 1-2

  Much Madness is divinest Sense -
  To a discerning Eye -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-5

  Much Sense - the starkest Madness -
  ’Tis the Majority
  In this, as all, prevail -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-7

  Assent - and you are sane -
  Demur - you’re straightway dangerous -

  

  

  

  

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• Line 8

  And handled with a Chain -

  

  

  

  

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“Much Madness is divinest Sense -” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Paradox

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Synecdoche

  

  

  

  

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• Antimetabole

  

  

  

  

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“Much Madness is divinest Sense -” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Divinest
• Discerning
• Starkest
• 'Tis
• Prevail
• Assent
• Demur
• Straightway

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Much Madness is divinest Sense -”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Much Madness is divinest Sense -” Speaker

“Much Madness is divinest Sense -” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Much Madness is divinest Sense -”

More “Much Madness is divinest Sense -” Resources

• External Resources

  • Other Poems by Dickinson — A link to numerous other Emily Dickinson poems.

  • On Playing Emily Dickinson — A clip in which actor Cynthia Nixon discusses playing Emily Dickinson in the film A Quiet Passion. 

  • Educational Resources — Resources for students about Emily Dickinson provided by the Dickinson museum (which is situated in her old house).

  • Possible Inspiration from Emerson — An essay called "Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, in which he discusses the relationship between society and the individual.

  • How Society Treats the "Mad" — An interesting Paris Review article looking at the history of madness.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!