Alienation Unit- Poem Two

Much Madness is divinest Sense

By: Emily Dickinson

"Much Madness is divinest Sense-...Much Sense-the starkest Madness-..." Within the poem about sanity and insanity a paradoxical juxtaposition is presented. The central theme and idea is that insanity is a good sense and that good sense is insane. In the conclusion of the poem, though, the theme is spread further to scorning and refuting society for restraining individuals. 

In the first line of the poem, the first aspect of the paradox is presented as insanity is described as a good sense that allows one to look at things from a different perspective. The second aspect of the paradox then follows in the third line as the speaker describes a good sense as insanity. The speaker states that the majority have a good sense, but are insane. By following and conforming to society, one is considered sane, but if one strays from this sanity, then they dangerously challenge society. In living as the "majority" proposes, the speaker suggests that one becomes restrained by "chain." In analyzing the poem with an open perspective, I gain a clearer view of how one's insanity or differences from society restrain one from the good sense that is insane.