Much Madness is Divinest Sense

Much Madness is divines 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-



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"Much Madness is Divinest Sense" without a doubt this is a piece by Emily Dickinson. She uses all of the elements that are characteristic of her poetry. Such elements include use of Capitalization, dashes, some alliteration, and dark themes. All of these things are found in her poem, "Essential Oils". The use of many dashes is also in Horace Smith's Ozymandias. This could be mere coincidence, but this poem could have been familiar to Dickinson for it was published twelve years prior to her birth. One question I have is, did she name any of her poems? It seems that they are all called by their first line. I quite enjoyed the idea of this poem. She explores the universal question, what is madness? According to Dickinson one that appears mad is really most in touch with the divine Sense. Sense is capitalized, perhaps meaning "divine Spirit". The "discerning Eye" could mean God: divinest Sense= discerning Eye, one that is impartial to the public opinion. When Sense appears the second time I believe it takes on another meaning. Line 3/4 I believe says that using too much reason causes the worst madness, and this is what the majority suffer from. This statement seems very appropriate to be coming from Dickinson who lived during the height of the Age of Reason, when science was embraced over/within religion (deism).

To agree with the majority is to be considered "sane". The word assent enforces this opinion because it implies a passive agreement. In her opinion the ones accepted as sane are the lemmings that jump off the cliff. Next she uses Demur to describe the insane or "dangerous". According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary demur is defined as, "hesitation (as in doing or accepting) usually based on doubt of the acceptability of something offered or propose". Therefore the one that demurs evaluates the accepted norm. Dickinson praises this person. However in life this person is then punished or "handled with a Chain".

Dickinson's style points to her will for readers to think and evaluate. The dashes are a way of saying "stop, this is important and is an essential part of what links (chains?) the poem together." The alliteration provides some auditory appeal to the poem, with the lip-smacking m's "Much Madness", and lingering s's "Sense", "starkest", "Assent", "straightway", "dangerous". [Was line 1 on purpose with much madness starting the poem, then switching the meaning and sandwiching line 3?]