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-----Original Message-----
From: "Naomi Biden" <NBiden12@sidwell.edu>
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 21:14:20
To: Naomi Biden<NBiden12@sidwell.edu>
Cc: <kathleenbiden@mac.com>
Subject: have dad read? or you? please and thankyou

Solomon: U.S. Literature
Naomi Biden 
Both Dickinson and Whitman invite their readers to explore the relationship between conformity and individualism. In Emily Dickinsons poem she introduces the notion that the majority holds back the individuals. Whitman also creates a speaker whom is misunderstood, or not satisfied with conforming. In When I heard the Learnd Astronomer the speaker isnt satisfied with the charts, numbers and scientific proof that please the crowd. Whitmans poem contemplates whether numbers and figures alone fully represent the awe inspired by stepping away from the crowd and simply looking up at the night sky. Both poems assert that conformity is not beneficial to creativity. However the tone, voice of the speaker, and moreover the way in which each poet goes about making this point is distinct.
In Emily Dickinsons poem Much Madness is Divinest Sense, the speaker reaches out to the outcasts, individuals, and misunderstood members of society. Through paradox and irony the poem asserts that what may constitute madness to the majority is rational to the individual and visa versa. That is the way it has always been and the way it always will be. Dickinson exposes the absolute irony of sanity, which is that is almost entirely in the eye of the beholder. Those who break away from the group or community are in turn immediately viewed as dangerous and handled with a chain. Chain used here may be interpreted in the literal sense or metaphorically, nevertheless chains are used to suppress the individual. Dickinson closes the poem with the assertion that to conform regardless of what you are conforming too is to be sane, only because the group decides what is and isnt sane. Dickinson meets questions crucial to understanding social behavior head on. Her ambiguous word choice works to the advantage of the poems message which is that conformity is restraining. To be labeled mad is only proof that you did not act or think in accordance with the majority.
Whitman is less obvious about his message. The tone of the poem may be interpreted as slightly mocking, as he refers to the astronomer as learnd which suggests perhaps he is mocking the institutionalized education the astronomer got. The poem begins as if he is telling a story, taking us through the process that lead him to his belief that to fully understand a concept or accept what is not understood you have to step away from the group. Rather than preaching his own opinions on conformity he recounts an experience and leaves the rest to the interpretation of the reader. Science and math are referred to as the proofs, charts and diagrams which the astronomer uses in an attempt to explain space. The majority of the crowd is content, and even pleased and the room is filled with applause. The speaker feeling ill glides out of the group, obviously not satisfied with the explanation given. He separates himself from society and looks at the stars for himself. Only in that perfect silence is he able to appreciate the magnitude of the stars in the night sky.
While both poems are not so clear that the meaning can be absorbed in one reading, In Dickinsons the point is explicit and in Whitmans the theme is left to the reader to decipher. Furthermore Dickinson addresses sanity versus insanity while Whitman focuses on science versus art. In Whitmans When I heard the Learned Astronomer Instead of simply giving his point of view on conformity, the speaker tells of a specific instance where he found himself inspired by stepping away from the crowd, putting aside the learnd astronomers data and looking up in perfect silence at the sky for himself. Silence contrasts with the applause and lecturing he endured while listening to the astronomer. Silence is a word often times paired with loneliness. The silence is perfect, the loneliness is crucial to the speakers ability to gaze at the stars and be content with the mystery that accompany them. The poem offers another crucial question, that of the significance of science when paired with art and in this case poetry. How much do numbers and figures mean, they may tell the distance of the stars to where your standing but they cant describe the feeling you get when you look up at them. The speaker is subtle but the poem is successful at conveying the importance of experiencing and thinking for yourself.
Both poems provoke questions about the consequences of conformity in very different ways. Dickinson focuses on the perspective of the majority versus that of the individual while Whitman recalls a instance where stepping away lead to a deeper understanding. Dickinson exposes the irony that is sanity, and Whitman explores the benefits of thinking and moreover discovering for yourself. The poems are alike in that they criticize conformists but different in the style in which they go about it.