Much Madness is divinest Sense— Analysis

The poem doesn't bother with any standard form of steady meter. Makes sense to Shmoop. This poem is supposed to be about bucking the established structure, so why would Dickinson lock the words int...

This speaker doesn't mind telling people how she feels. She doesn't mince around the topic at all. She launches right into it, and tells us exactly what she thinks. To wit: to her, mainstream socie...

This poem doesn't lock us into any specific setting (no checking in on Foursquare here). It doesn't give us much imagery or anything like that. What is does give us, though, is a whole lot of attit...

Dickinson doesn't get too wild with the sound games in this poem, but she does slip some in on us for kicks. The first thing we notice is a couple of prime uses of alliteration. The first line is t...

Ha. Fooled you. This poem has no title. Actually, none of Dickinson's poems have titles. One reason is that she never intended to publish most of them. This is not to say that she never intended fo...

Yes, yes… Dickinson uses a bunch of dashes in this poem, just like she does in every poem. It's her thing, and it definitely comes in handy when she wants to emphasize something. The third line i...

Emily goes easy on us with this one. No hiking boots necessary; you could do it in flip-flops.

Dickinson used to lower a basket full of gingerbread out of her window for the neighborhood kids. Would your mom have let you accept gingerbread from the weird lady that lived alone? (Source.) Dick...

Nope, no sex in this poem what. so. ever.