Paul,



I think you’re right, and I was considering that as I wrote.  We underestimate even in our students’ writing the close integration of sound and sense in the creation of text.  That said, I don’t think a poet of Dickinson’s caliber leaves out a definite article to make the meter work.  Rather, as you suggest, the meter and the meaning come together in some remarkable way that remains a mystery to a mere academic prose writer like me.



Herb



From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul E. Doniger

Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 6:29 AM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: Poetry grammar question: Dickinson



Herb,



Could you accept that form and content are so intertwined that neither one nor the other is a "driving force" by itself? It seems to me that they both drive each other. I really have a hard time separating meter from meaning (or vice versa) here.



Paul



"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction" (_Twelfth Night_ 3.4.127-128).





________________________________

From: "STAHLKE, HERBERT F" <[log in to unmask]>

To: [log in to unmask]

Sent: Wed, September 7, 2011 12:08:02 AM

Subject: Re: Poetry grammar question: Dickinson

Scott,



I’m going back to the complete poem, as below:



   Much Madness is divinest Sense —

   To a discerning Eye —

   Much Sense — the starkest Madness —

   ’Tis the Majority

   In this, as All, prevail —

   Assent — and you are sane —

   Demur — you’re straightway dangerous —

   And handled with a Chain —



“Much Madness” and “much sense” are both ambiguous, between “a lot of the madness/sense we observe” and “a high degree of madness/sense.”  I think both readings work, and I rather like the ambiguity.  The dashes add important grammatical information that your quotation left out, namely the parenthetical nature of “to a discerning eye” and the ellipsis of “is” in the third line.  As to the use of the article, I think Dickinson is playing with generic vs. specific meanings.  I suspect meaning rather than meter is the driving force in her choice, although I can’t speak with any authority about how the mind of a poetic genius works.



Herb

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Woods

Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2011 2:33 PM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Poetry grammar question: Dickinson



Dear List,



Consider these lines from Dickinson: Much madness is divinest sense/ To a discerning eye;/ Much sense the starkest madness.

Why is there no "the" in front of "divinest sense" and why is there a "the" in front of "starkest madness"? It sounds wrong to my ear to say "Much madness is the divinest sense," and it sounds off to say "much sense starkest madness," but I don't know why this is. What is the rule I'm missing?



Thanks,



Scott Woods

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