3. Much Madness is Divinest Sense

Much Madness is Divinest Sense
Emily Dickinson

I really like this poem. First, it is apparent that the major paradox in the poem differentiates "a discerning eye" and "the majority". The speaker first makes it known that they are the individual, surrounded by a mass of people in the same routine. "Madness is divine" (Dickinson, 820). Oftentimes people are respected for having good sense. It sounds logical that having sense about a person would be a good quality to have, but this poem dismantles the notion that madness is bad, and it gives those with "sense" the poison of conformity. Madness is redefined as the few nonconformists, a few with independent thought. It also calls out society as corrupt, claiming that it sets us up to think of the people who conform to the majority are "sane", and those that go against the grain, "dangerous". In fact society often feels compelled to put those with independent thought in chains- they should be locked up! Individuals uniqueness is somehow dangerous to the workings of society. What the speaker elicits is the idea that being true to oneself is not something of criminals- but it is the divinest sense. It is divine to be mad.