Much Madness is Divinest Sense, Emily Dickinson: Summary & Analysis

Much Madness is Divinest Sense, Emily Dickinson: Summary & Analysis

A Detailed Summary and Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s 'Much Madness is Divinest Sense' Emily Dickinson’s poem "Much Madness is Divinest Sense," numbered as poem 620 in her Complete Poems , offers a profound commentary on society’s perceptions of sanity and madness . Dickinson’s work, rarely titled by the poet herself, explores the unconventional idea that what society deems as madness may, in fact, be an insightful truth, and what is accepted as sanity could be misguided. Summary Much Madness is Divinest Sense, Emily Dickinson Much Madness is divinest Sense – To a discerning Eye – Much Sense – the starkest Madness – ’Tis the Majority In this, as all, prevail – Assent – and you are sane – Demur – you’re straightway dangerous – And handled with a Chain – This short poem can be paraphrased as follows: to a keen observer, what might appear to be madness is actually profound sense. Conversely, what is widely accepted as sensible is, in fact, stark madness . Society determin…