Alienation Blog Post #4

Much Madness is divinest Sense by Emily Dickinson

PARADOX: a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that in fact reveals some truth.

 Okay, this poem is difficult. Emily Dickinson is a deep, deep person. The critical reading questions definitely helped me out on this one. They say that this poem is telling about a paradox--that insanity is good sense, but having good sense is insane. I suppose this makes sense. "To a discerning Eye--" (Dickinson 830), or someone who thinks a lot about things, they may say that insanity is good because insane people seem so realistic to me. They see things for what they are. Most of our greatest mathematicians, astronomers, historians, writers, thinkers, scientists, etc. were thought of as insane at the time. This insanity is what brought about the light bulb, gravity, and some of the best works ever written. These people were insane but it was good sense that came out of it. On the other hand, there are people who say that having good sense is insane. I guess this means that people who think too much are seen as insane...but they would only be seen as insane to those of us who don't think as much as they do. The speaker says this is the majority, but I don't think that they think it is actually true. The speaker says that agreeing with something make someone sane, but it is when they disagree that makes things difficult for them. I think this is true because, for example, Galileo was thrown in jail and ostracized because of his beliefs. Turns out he was right. So, he disagreed with the thinking of that time,  which made his path difficult, but his insanity is what brought about good sense.