While the line uses iambs, there aren't 5 iambic feet and as such isn't
pentameter; nonetheless, the rhythm (iambic tetrameter) is common to
Dickinson (Because I could not stop for Death...), as it was to Blake (And
did those feet in ancient time...), Byron, Browning, and on and on...

The lack of *the* suggests that "divinest sense" is term without need of a
determiner - it isn't a specific or local sense, but a concept, a quality I
suppose Dickinson wishes to categorize for us. We don't say *the* humility
when speaking of humility, unless that quality belongs to someone in
particular (The humility she exhibits is remarkable). Read the
sentence without the inverted syntax and it gets clearer - "To a discerning
eye, divinest sense is much madness."

I would question more why she uses *Much* in line three, "Much sense the
starkest madness", when she means *many*, as in many people...


John





On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 2:53 PM, Carol Morrison <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

>   In my humble opinion, perhaps Dickinson left the article "the" off of
> "divinest" for the rhythm and meter of the poem. The iambic pentameter would
> be disturbed by inserting the article. Also, it would make that line 9
> syllables in contrast to the 8 it presently carries which align nicely with
> the 7 syllables in /Much sense the starkest madness/
>
> Carol
>
> --- On *Tue, 9/6/11, Scott Woods <[log in to unmask]>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Scott Woods <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Poetry grammar question: Dickinson
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 2:33 PM
>
>  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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-- 
John Chorazy
English III Honors and Academic
Pequannock Township High School
973.616.6000

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