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Emily DickinsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Remembrance” by Emily Brontë (1846)
Critics often compare Dickinson with Victorian poet and writer Emily Brontë since both women isolated themselves from society and produced keen works. Brontë wrote the canonized stormy romance novel Wuthering Heights (1847) and many poems. One of her more famous poems is “Remembrance,” where the speaker has to balance their passion for a departed love with a reasonable life. As with “‘Faith’ is a fine invention,” Brontë’s poem relies on juxtaposition and addresses when to yield to feelings and how to embrace rationality.
“I’m Nobody! Who are you?” by Emily Dickinson (ca 1861)
Read alongside “‘Faith’ is a fine invention,” this poem furthers the argument that Dickinson is carefully lampooning the “Gentlemen” (Line 2) and their faith. In “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” Dickinson compares visible members of society, like gentlemen, to frogs and bogs. Her speaker calls overtly notable people “dreary” (Line 5) since what’s admirable isn’t public acclaim but a private identity. Just as “‘Faith’ is a fine invention” subverts ideas about gender, this poem overturns norms about fame. The speaker puts down people with widely known personas and lifts up the so-called “nobodies.” Dickinson’s appreciation of “nobodies” might be why the speaker in “‘Faith’ is a fine invention” remains mysterious and has the wisdom to tell the somebodies how to behave.
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
Emily Dickinson
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson
The Only News I Know
Emily Dickinson
There is no Frigate like a Book
Emily Dickinson