n asserts, “Much Madness is divinest Sense - /To a Whitfield 2discerning Eye -/.” In these lines she is declaring that it is the nonconformist who is trulyblessed with sensibility and logic to people with insight and understanding. ThenDickinson goes on to say that “Much Sense - the starkest Madness -/ ‘Tis the Majority,”meaning that those who are viewed in society as having “much sense,” or conformists,have absolute “Madness” (3,4). In the last four lines of the octave, “In this, as all prevail- / Assent - and you are sane - / Demur - you’re straightway dangerous - / And handledwith a Chain -,” Dickinson goes on to say that one can be sure that if a person conforms tosociety, or “assents,” then they are viewed as sane, but if they hesitate to conform in theleast then they are viewed as dangerous and society would like nothing more than to lockthem away. The use of paradoxes in “Much Madness is divinest Sense” is another techniquewhich Dickinson takes advantage of. The whole poem compares “madness” and “sense”which are opposite in meaning. Though these words are opposites, Dickinson finds aconnection in meaning; while society views conformists as sane and nonconformists asmad, it is actually the nonconformist who is sane and the conformists who are mad,making the entire subject matter of the poem paradoxical. Dickinson also utilizessynecdoche and metaphor; “To a discerning Eye-” (2). The “discerning Eye,” she isspeaking of is the vehicle and the tenor is simply a logical person (2). Dickinson alsometaphorically states, “Demur - you’re straightway dangerous - / and handled with aChain -” (7,8). The chain the hesitant person is handled with is the vehicle, while the tenoris society’s desire to get rid of nonconformists, or unique individuals. Another inte...
