Here’s a full analysis of the poem ‘The Brain - is wider than the Sky -’ by Emily Dickinson, tailored towards A-Level students but also suitable for those studying at a higher level. Enjoy and feel free to leave feedback if you found it useful!
Includes:
POEM
VOCABULARY
STORY / SUMMAR...
The Brain - is wider than the Sky -
Emily Dickinson
The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
For—put them side by side—
The one the other will contain
With ease—and you—beside—
The Brain is deeper than the sea—
For—hold them—Blue to Blue—
The one the other will absorb—
As sponges—Buckets—do—
The Brain is just the weight of God—
For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—
And they will differ—if they do—
As Syllable from Sound—
VOCABULARY
Heft - to lift or carry a heavy item
Pound - a measure of weight, used before kilograms were introduced
Differ - to be different
Syllable - the individual units of sound that make up a word
STORY/SUMMARY
Stanza 1: The brain is wider than the sky - because if you put them side by side - one
of them (the brain) will easily contain the other (the sky) within it easily - and it’ll
contain you as well that.
, Stanza 2: The brain is deeper than the sea - because if you hold them next to each
other and compare their blueness, one will absorb the other like sponges in buckets
would do.
Stanza 3: The brain is exactly the weight of God - because if you weigh them both,
pound for pound, they will differ - if they differ at all - as a syllable differs from a
sound.
SPEAKER/VOICE
The speaker in this poem expresses her admiration for the human mind, by comparing
it against natural elements and suggesting that it is greater than anything else in the
world. Then, she compares it to God himself - and suggests that the human mind is
equal in weight, but different as a ‘syllable’ - a part of a word - would be to a ‘sound’ -
perhaps a suggestion that the mind is part of the human body that communicates and
can be understood, but for Dickinson God is a more abstract and indecipherable
concept, like a sound that has no way to turn into a word or concept.
LANGUAGE DEVICES
Direct address - “The one the other will contain / With ease—and you—beside—” -
this line is humorous and surprising as it suddenly involves the reader in the debate
outlined within the poem - suggesting that the mind is so vast and infinite that it can
hold the sky within it at the same time as holding yourself. This also encourages to
understand the difference between the material physical reality and the world of
abstract concepts and thoughts - we cannot physically hold the sea or sky, but we can
conceptually hold them in our mind by using the powers of creativity and imagination.
Comparative adjectives - these adjectives enhance the sense of comparison that runs
throughout the poem, the terms ‘wider’ and ‘deeper’ also encourage us to think
varyingly about the different aspects of the mind - how expansive it can be in terms of
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