“The Brain—is wider than the Sky—” Summary

“The Brain—is wider than the Sky—” Themes

• 

  The Power of the Human Mind

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.
• 

  Humanity's Relationship to God

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Brain—is wider than the Sky—”

• Lines 1-2

  The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
  For—put them side by side—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 3-4

  The one the other will contain
  With ease—and you—beside—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 5-6

  The Brain is deeper than the sea—
  For—hold them—Blue to Blue—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 7-8

  The one the other will absorb—
  As sponges—Buckets—do—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Line 9

  The Brain is just the weight of God—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 10-11

  For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—
  And they will differ—if they do—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Line 12

  As Syllable from Sound—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“The Brain—is wider than the Sky—” Symbols

• 

  The Sea

  • See where this symbol appears in the poem.

“The Brain—is wider than the Sky—” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Diacope

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Simile

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

“The Brain—is wider than the Sky—” 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.

• Ease
• Absorb
• Heft
• Pound
• Syllable

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Brain—is wider than the Sky—”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Brain—is wider than the Sky—” Speaker

“The Brain—is wider than the Sky—” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Brain—is wider than the Sky—”

More “The Brain—is wider than the Sky—” Resources

• External Resources

  • Biography of Emily Dickinson — Read about Emily Dickinson’s life, and find links to many of her poems, in this biographical page from the Poetry Foundation.

  • Original Manuscript of the Poem — View the poem in Dickinson’s own handwriting.

  • The Emily Dickinson Museum — Learn more about Dickinson’s life and work at the website of the Dickinson Museum, which is located at Dickinson’s former home in Amherst, Massachusetts.

  • Introduction to Dickinson’s Poems — Learn more about Dickinson’s distinctive subject matter and style in this introduction to her collected poems from the Academy of American Poets.

  • Article about the Poem and Neuroscience — Read this article at Psychology Today to learn more about how Dickinson’s poem anticipates and intersects with contemporary neuroscience, or the study of the human brain.

• 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

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • 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 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!