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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.
“‘Faith’ is a fine invention” by Emily Dickinson (ca 1860)
In this poem, Dickinson’s speaker comments on blind faith versus science (as symbolized by the “Microscope”). As in “What Soft—Cherubic Creatures,” Dickinson meditates upon themes of religion, spirituality, and human nature.
“The Soul selects her own Society” by Emily Dickinson (ca 1862)
“The Soul selects her own Society” and is independent; she is not concerned with or influenced by privilege or status, unlike the gentlewoman in “What Soft—Cherubic Creatures.” The Soul is not concerned with earthly or luxurious possessions, for she has only a “low Gate” and a bare “Mat” in front of her door.
“the rites for Cousin Vit” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1949)
Gwendolyn Brooks is a 20th-century poet and author who often wrote about independent women who didn’t conform to stereotypes. In her poem, “the rites for Cousin Vit,” Brooks brings to life a woman who departs from the gentlewomen in “What Soft—Cherubic Creatures.” Cousin Vit is neither supercilious nor weak. She embraces the messiness of life through dancing, love, and merriment. Dickinson reproaches the gentlewoman for being afraid of “freckled Human Nature” (Line 7), but Cousin Vit lives boldly as she “[s]lops the bad wine across her shantung” (Line 11), and even death “can’t hold her” (Line 2).
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
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