emily dickinson 409 analysis

Emily Dickinson in 1862: A Weekly Blog

“The Soul selects her own Society” (F409)

The Soul selects her own Society –  Then – shuts the Door –  To her divine Majority –  +Present no more –   +Obtrude

Unmoved – she notes the Chariots – pausing –  At her low Gate –  Unmoved – an Emperor be kneeling  + Opon her Mat –    +On [her] Rush mat

I’ve known her – from an ample nation –  Choose One –  Then – close the – +Valves of   +lids her attention –  Like Stone – 

Link to EDA manuscript . Originally in Packet XIII, Mixed Fasciles, ca. 1862.  First published in Poems (1890), 26, from the fascicle copy ( A ), with the alternatives for lines 3 and 4 adopted. Courtesy of Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

This is a touchstone poem about selection and choice in Dickinson’s canon and it has been read and much debated. Helen Vendler does a close reading of the poem, comparing it to “Of all the Souls that stand Create” (F 279), which, she argues, recounts in “unsurpassable” terms the soul’s “eschatological” or timeless and eternal choice of one person. Here, she thinks, Dickinson redoes the topic “in humbler terms.”

One place to start is with the form. The poem begins each stanza with long lines followed by very short ones, which sets a pattern of extension and truncation that feels like something being shut down or out. The first two stanzas begin with pentameter lines followed by short lines of dimeter (two feet each). The thirds stanza starts with a nine syllable line followed by a monometer (one foot line). Attention is getting shorter and shorter. In this last stanza, the monomter lines contaib spondees, two stressed syllables that bang shut with a double thump. Annie Finch observes that the poem

retreats from its initial iambic pentameter line, a movement that metrically parallels the poem’s verbal description of self-reliance and frugality.

The word “valves” with its variant of “lids” suggests an exclusion that resembles blindness and suffocation. The final rhyme of “One” and “Stone” reinforces the sense of rigidity, especially in how the first word is enclosed in the second.

In reading this poem, many readers invoke Emerson’s notion of self-reliance  and his advocacy of retreating into the soul in search of the divine. Emily Budick suggests the poem

borrows linguistic trappings from Puritan theology and applies them to the phenomenon of Transcendentalism.

Notable is the theme of royalty in the “Chariots” that pause at the soul’s humble abode, and the “Emperor” found kneeling upon the soul’s lowly door mat. It is also important to note that in the third stanza, the speaker differentiates herself from this discerning “soul,” or speaks about herself in the third person­­–how discriminating!

Budick, E. Miller. “When the Soul Selects: Emily Dickinson’s Attack on New England Symbolism.” American Literature 51.3 (Nov. 1979): 349-63, 352.

Finch, A. R. C. “Dickinson and Patriarchal Meter: A Theory of Metrical Codes.” PMLA 102.2 (Mar. 1987): 166-76, 172-3.

Vendler, Helen. Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2010, 187-190.

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12.9: 409 (The Soul selects her own Society)

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The Soul selects her own Society — Then — shuts the Door — To her divine Majority — Present no more —

Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — pausing — At her low Gate — Unmoved — an Emperor be kneeling Upon her Mat —

I’ve known her — from an ample nation — Choose One — Then — close the Valves of her attention — Like Stone —

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Home > Poems > The Soul selects her own Society

The Soul selects her own Society

By Emily Dickinson

The Soul selects her own Society — Then — shuts the Door — To her divine Majority — Present no more —

Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — pausing — At her low Gate — Unmoved — an Emperor be kneeling Upon her Mat —

I've known her — from an ample nation — Choose One — Then — close the Valves of her attention — Like Stone —

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The Soul selects her own Society (303)

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The Soul selects her own Society — Then — shuts the Door — To her divine Majority — Present no more —

Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — pausing — At her low Gate — Unmoved — an Emperor be kneeling Upon her Mat —

I've known her — from an ample nation — Choose One — Then — close the Valves of her attention — Like Stone —

This poem is in the public domain.

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Dear march—come in—(1320).

Dear March—Come in— How glad I am— I hoped for you before— Put down your Hat— You must have walked— How out of Breath you are— Dear March, how are you, and the Rest— Did you leave Nature well— Oh March, Come right upstairs with me—

One Sister have I in our house (14)

To make a prairie (1755).

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Wild nights - Wild nights! Summary & Analysis by Emily Dickinson

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

"Wild nights - Wild nights!" is a poem by Emily Dickinson, one of the most famous and original of American writers. In this brief but powerful poem, the speaker longs to share "wild nights" with an absent lover. She imagines herself as a sailor on a stormy sea, searching for the harbor of her love. The lover in the poem might reference the speaker's desire to be closer to God, or simply the desire to be intimate with another person. On that note, when the poem was first published in an 1891 collection of Dickinson's work, the publisher worried that the poem's eroticism might shock the general public!

• Read the full text of “Wild nights - Wild nights!”

The Full Text of “Wild nights - Wild nights!”

1 Wild nights - Wild nights!

2 Were I with thee

3 Wild nights should be

4 Our luxury!

5 Futile - the winds -

6 To a Heart in port -

7 Done with the Compass -

8 Done with the Chart!

9 Rowing in Eden -

10 Ah - the Sea!

11 Might I but moor - tonight -

12 In thee!

“Wild nights - Wild nights!” Summary

“wild nights - wild nights” themes.

Sexual Passion

• See where this theme is active in the poem.

Longing and Absence

Religious Fervor

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “wild nights - wild nights”.

Wild nights - Wild nights!

Were I with thee

Wild nights should be Our luxury!

Futile - the winds - To a Heart in port -

Done with the Compass - Done with the Chart!

Rowing in Eden - Ah - the Sea!

Lines 11-12

Might I but moor - tonight - In thee!

“Wild nights - Wild nights!” Symbols

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“Wild nights - Wild nights!” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

Alliteration.

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Extended Metaphor

“wild nights - wild nights” vocabulary.

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Wild nights - Wild nights!”

Rhyme scheme, “wild nights - wild nights” speaker, “wild nights - wild nights” setting, literary and historical context of “wild nights - wild nights”, more “wild nights - wild nights” resources, external resources.

An article by Dickinson's publisher, Thomas Higginson — This 1891 article from the Atlantic is Dickinson's publisher's account of his correspondence with her and the posthumous printing of her poems.

A Short Biography of Dickinson — The Poetry Foundation's biography of Dickinson, with links to more of her poems.

Dickinson's Manuscript Copy of the Poem — The manuscript for "Wild nights - Wild nights!" in Dickinson's own handwriting.

The Emily Dickinson Museum — The official website for the Emily Dickinson museum, with further information on her life and works.

Sarah Arvio's Reading of "Wild nights - Wild nights!" — A short piece from the Poetry Society of America on a writer's first experience reading this poem (including opinions on some of the readings discussed in this guide).

LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

A Bird, came down the Walk

After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

A Light exists in Spring

A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

A narrow Fellow in the Grass

An awful Tempest mashed the air—

As imperceptibly as grief

A still—Volcano—Life—

Because I could not stop for Death —

Before I got my eye put out

Fame is a fickle food

Hope is the thing with feathers

I cannot live with You –

I cautious, scanned my little life

I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

I did not reach Thee

I died for Beauty—but was scarce

I dreaded that first Robin, so

I dwell in Possibility –

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

If I can stop one heart from breaking

I had been hungry, all the Years

I have a Bird in spring

I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

I like a look of Agony

I like to see it lap the Miles

I measure every Grief I meet

I’m Nobody! Who are you?

I started Early — Took my Dog —

I taste a liquor never brewed

It was not Death, for I stood up

I—Years—had been—from Home—

Like Rain it sounded till it curved

Much Madness is divinest Sense -

My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

Nature is what we see

One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

Publication — is the Auction

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

Success is counted sweetest

Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

The Bustle in a House

The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

There came a Wind like a Bugle

There is no Frigate like a Book

There's a certain Slant of light

There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

The Soul has bandaged moments

The Soul selects her own Society

The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

They shut me up in Prose –

This is my letter to the world

This World is not Conclusion

'Twas the old—road—through pain—

We grow accustomed to the Dark

What mystery pervades a well!

Whose cheek is this?

Everything you need for every book you read.

A Summary and Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s ‘Much Madness is Divinest Sense’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Much Madness Is Divinest Sense’ is the unofficial title of one of Emily Dickinson’s poems (she tended not to give her poems titles: they’re simply numbered in her Complete Poems , and this one is number 620).

The poem challenges conventional notions of sanity and madness, arguing that what society often perceives as ‘madness’ can actually be some kind of profound insight and truth, while those appearing ‘sane’ might be deeply misled. Indeed, what society calls ‘madness’ in some may even be some sort of divine insight, or ‘sense’.

Much Madness is divinest 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 –

To paraphrase Dickinson’s short poem: to a perceptive person, what appears to be ‘madness’ or insanity in another is actually good sense, divinely inspired. Conversely, what many people assume to be common sense is, in reality, unadulterated madness.

It’s the general consensus among society which determines what is called ‘madness’ and what is deemed ‘sanity’: if you ‘assent’ or agree with the mainstream view in a particular society, you are considered sane, but if you ‘demur’ or object, you’re immediately viewed as dangerously mad, in need to being restrained with a metal chain for your own, and other’s, safety.

This is a loose paraphrase of Dickinson’s little poem, to serve as a ‘way in’ to understanding its core meaning. But what else needs to be said? For a start, how did she come to write such a poem, and hold such views?

In one of her letters, Emily Dickinson wrote: ‘Had we the first intimation of the Definition of Life, the calmest of us would be Lunatics!’ Dickinson’s poem is interested not just in worldly sanity (or insanity) but in ideas of the divine, or religious. If any of us had a glimpse of the divine and discovered the real reason we’re all here on earth, the revelation would be enough to render even the sanest and calmest of us a babbling madman (or madwoman).

Dickinson’s poem is, of course, concerned with a reversal of normality: ‘Much Madness’, she begins by asserting, is actually – contrary to popular belief ‘divinest Sense.’ Not all madness, we should note, but ‘much’, nevertheless. For every random person who is merely mentally unwell and in need of help and sympathy, there may also be a William Blake, or some other visionary who was denounced as a ‘lunatic’ because their insights and work were barely understood by their contemporaries.

In other words, contrary to societal expectations, we should keep in mind that what is considered mad might hold deeper meaning than what appears normal. And the flipside of this is that behaviour or attitudes which might appear ‘normal’ and perfectly sane may actually be madness, but the insanity of such behaviours and ideas are hidden from people because the majority holds them.

Consider some of the views which people of a century or so ago held. Eugenics was, for a long time in the early twentieth century, enthusiastically endorsed by many prominent intellectuals and thinkers, who believed that all of humankind could be improved with a little cleansing of the gene pool.

Nowadays, the mainstream view is that eugenics is an abhorrent practice and an unacceptable infringement on an individual’s right to have children. We take such a view for granted, but a hundred years ago, many leading thinkers would look at you as if you were mad for saying such a thing.

Similarly, two hundred years ago, the idea that women should have equal voting rights to men was a fringe notion in many countries. In Britain, even the Chartists campaigned for electoral reform for men alone, rather than women. Nowadays, it’s people who object to equal suffrage for the two sexes who are considered the irrational ones.

The point, then, is that societies decide which views are considered ‘mad’ and which are ‘sane’, but societies can be wrong. It’s the majority that decides, but there’s a well-known logical fallacy, argumentum ad populum (Latin for ‘appeal to the people’), which revolves around claiming something is true or morally good because many people think it is. Two centuries ago, many people in Britain and the US believed slavery was a good thing. How many people in the twenty-first century believe it is?

This phenomenon was already well-known in the nineteenth century, when Dickinson (1830-86) was writing. Charles Mackay’s Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds , published in 1841, had explored how many manias of the past – from Tulip mania to the South Sea Bubble to the Crusades – were regarded as perfectly rational pursuits, or beliefs, when they happened.

The Tyranny of the Mob

The speaker of Dickinson’s poem highlights that divine inspiration from God often comes to those perceived as mad; she implies that these individuals possess a unique, divinely-inspired understanding. However, society fails to recognize their genius, instead labelling them ‘starkest Madness’.

If this were all the poem said, however, the sentiment would be unremarkable. What gives ‘Much Madness Is Divinest Sense’ its acute psychological edge – its ‘bite’, we might say, or even its social commentary – is the closing image of the ‘demurrer’ being bound in chains for merely voicing opposition to the beliefs of the crowd.

As Helen Vendler points out in her study of Dickinson’s poetry, Dickinson , ‘demur’ is a mild verb which means voicing the gentlest opposition to something. It is not vehement rejection or resistance, but, we might say, a simple case of saying, ‘But surely …’ or ‘But what about …’

For this offence, the demurrer is proclaimed ‘mad’ and restrained in the most objectionable way. What else, we may wonder, does the bullying mob plan to do with that individual once they have him or her chained? As Vendler argues, the Dickinson’s ‘protest is against the Majority’s vehement conviction that a demurral to its views is so dangerous that it must be repressed, censored, or bestially punished.’

So Dickinson’s poem criticises the majority, not just for lacking the insight that a handful of rare visionaries have into what is true and what is not, but for treating those who do possess that insight both cruelly and unfairly, feeling confident that they are in the right because they outnumber the individual demurrer.

The poem’s unconventional use of capitalisation, dashes, and slant rhyme reflects Dickinson’s unique style and adds to the poem’s enigmatic nature. The metre is largely iambic:

Much MAD-ness IS di-VIN-est SENSE – To A dis-CERN-ing EYE –

It might be worth reading this prose poem from the twentieth-century Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran alongside Dickinson’s, since its message – if that is the word – chimes in some ways with the meaning found in this poem.

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