Emily Dickinson

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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 straighway dangerous-
And handled with a Chain-

Sometimes Dickinson's poems can be hard for me to know what she's talking about, and this was one of those poems. Some random thoughts we talked about in class were: what makes sense, and what lies out of common sense? Getting people to look at things from a different perspective. This poem talks about madness and sense. It speaks of getting people to look at things from a different perspective and finding the meaning of widom. Also, hints on individual verses society, and having a higher focus.

An example we talked about in class was if schools should think about promoting abstinence in schools or focus more on the reality of the matter. It makes me sad to think that schools have to promote "safe" sex rather than abstinence. What is the sense of the matter, and what is madness? Personally, I think promoting "safe" sex can make students think that it's okay, but if schools stick with teaching abstinence then maybe students will understand the seriousness of the matter.