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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.
“We never know how high we are” by Emily Dickinson (1870)
In this lyric poem, Dickinson’s speaker merges with the majority through the plural pronoun “we.” As in “Much Madness is divinest Sense,” the speaker remains critical of human beings, suggesting that people are too afraid to reach great heights. Conversely, the speaker allows for doubt: People don’t know how high they are until they’re there. In “Much Madness is divinest Sense,” the speaker doesn’t doubt that the majority mislabels senselessness and sense.
“The crowd at the ball game” by William Carlos Williams (1923)
As with the majority in Dickinson’s poem, the crowd at the baseball game in this poem by the 20th-century American poet William Carlos Williams is somewhat odious. Williams describes the diverse, rambunctious crowd as unthinkingly cheering on the home team. Similar to Dickinson’s poem, Williams’s lyric links to the frightening power of the masses and their capacity for conflict.
“The Crazy Woman” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1960)
Brooks’s speaker goes against the majority in her lyric poem and sings a “gray” song in November instead of a happy song in May. To punish her deviation, the majority says, “That is the Crazy Woman / Who would not sing in May” (Lines 11-12).
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
"Faith" is a fine invention
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
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