Emily Dickinson Conformity

Throughout history society has depicted the “outsider” as the non-conformist. This non-conformist persona usually has negative attributes attached to it, therefore, no one wants to be correlated with it. For this reason, it is believed that the non-conformist poses danger to society because they may cause a collapse in its structure. Yet, a “mad” society meaning a society that poses danger to the outsider creates justification to their non conformity. In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Much Madness is Divinest Sense” she demonstrates how a “mad” society causes destruction on the non-conformist.
To truly understand this “mad” society Dickinson refers to, one has to understand the society in which Emily lived in. In one sense, Emily is defending her

own position as an independent woman in a patriarchal society. During the 1800s, society was a one sided power dynamic, which consisted of men, and women were expected to satisfy the men. In comparison to Dickinson’s poem, being that she was an active champion of defying gender stereotypes, the mad society she refers to can be correlated to the patriarchal environment she lived in. She acclaims, “Tis the Majority- / In this, as all, prevail” (4-5) Dickinson implies that the majority rules when she mentions “as all, prevail” (5), which can be a correlation with the patriarchal society. This means that since the majority rules they are able to set all the standards in society, which allows them to prevail, or in regards to her previous lines, it is the majority who is “sane” because they comply to the standards. This state of mind poses danger to those who defy the “sane” patriarchal society because as she states later on, those who “demur,” which means those who defy are deemed “straightaway dangerous- / And handled with a Chain” (7-8). This clearly proves that the majority is “mad” and poses danger because a non-conformist person, is reduced to a wild animal who needs to be “handled with a chain.” Thus, this type of destructive treatment affects a person, but is also shown in Dickinson’s style of writing.
In the first few lines, Dickinson presents a clear consequence of how the “mad” society has affected a non-conformist, such as herself.

As a result, this consequence is shown through the break in the meter of the poem. The meter of every line in “Much Madness is Divinest Sense” uses iambic tetrameter, yet Dickinson destroys the meter of her poem on the fourth line by using a reversed dactyl. There is no reason to change the meter of the poem, but to express emphasis. In the first line of the poem Dickinson refers to non-conformists by labeling them as “Much madness” (1), but in reality being sane. However, The third line states exactly the opposite. Those who believe they are sane with “much sense,” meaning the society Dickinson lives in is in reality mad as seen when she says “starkest Madness.” Thus, to physically emphasize the destruction a “mad” society has on a non conformist she destroys the meter of the poem with the fourth line, “Tis the Majority” (4). The author is showing that the majority meaning the society who is described as having “much sense” in the previous line, is actually dangerous in the sense that “Tis the Majority” who destroys the the iambic tetrameter thus it is them who are labeled as “starkest madness” (3). Dickinson shows that the society she lives in, who believes they are sane, actually poses a danger to a non-conformist, which makes sense due to the nature of

society.
Moreover, Dickinson furthers the notion of destruction when she decides to collapse the poem’s rhyme scheme. “Much Madness is divinest Sense” has a brief rhyme scheme of A B A. One may think that the next line will be B, but it changes to C D E A D. It is quite curious the location in which Emily chooses the collapse of the rhyme scheme to be. The poem is eight lines long and the collapse begins on the fourth line, which states, “Tis the Majority.” It is also interesting to note that the fourth line is the only line in the poem without a dash at the end of the line. One can note that the center of destruction of this poem all converges on the fourth line. It is very likely that Dickinson tries to emphasize the importance that the “majority” has on the destruction of her poem. It seems quite ironic because being that she is the non conformist, this type of style seems to be only natural. Yet, “Tis the Majority” that caused the poem to collapse, so they caused the poem to demur therefore creating them “straightaway dangerous.” Dickinson assented to her style of writing, therefore, she proclaims herself as sane.
Dickinson further proves her sanity by defying the norms of a standard poem with the capitalization of words in a non formal way, yet demonstrates the paradox of sanity and madness to illustrate the maddening effects a “mad” society has on the non-conformist. Throughout the poem the author capitalizes certain words breaking grammatical rules such as “Much Madness” (1) or “Much Sense” (3). Dickinson does this to emphasize the irony of the paradox involving madness paired with sanity and sanity with madness. She tries to prove the flaw in the mentality of a society that governs with majority rules. A society that is governed by a “mad” majority such as a patriarchal society Dickinson lived in is bound to develop non-conformist such as herself. Therefore, the maddening effects a “mad” society develops on a non-conformist is to produce paradoxes such as the ones that Dickinson produces on this poem.
The poem tries to show that sanity is not justified due to numbers such as the ideology of “majority rules,” instead it is defined by those who have a “discerning eye” (2) meaning those who do not just go along with the majority. Those who are “mad” enough to defy the majority. In today’s society we exclude and isolate those who we believe are “outsider,” yet one does not realize the psychological damage and irony in isolating an outsider. This is why Dickinson chose the majority to be the center of destruction of her entire poem. To show the paradox of isolating and isolated person, which in reality shows the madness of society. Therefore, one should follow what they believe and not the majority and as a result he concept of non-conformism will not be a problem.