The poem entitled “The Brain - is wider than the Sky-“ written by Emily Dickinson uses different literary elements that would assist readers in understanding its meaning. At the start, the reader could perceive that Dickinson uses simple vocabularies that are easy to comprehend. However, when taken in its entirety, the reader needs to examine the structure, form, symbols, choice of words and figurative language to enhance audience appeal and to solicit the use of cognitive and analytical skills to unveil the author’s meaning.
The structure of the poem perfectly conformed to a numbered pattern: eight syllables for lines 1 and 3; and 6 syllables for lines 2 and 4 – which evidently is applied for the three stanzas. The rhythmic pattern is evident from the words ending in lines 2 and 4 for all three stanzas. This could indicate that the author could be making a statement from lines 1 and 2 as if being said in one sentence. Likewise, the reader could observe the presence of dashes, strategically situated along the all lines, except in line 3. As such, the dashes could mean more than a intended pause between words or phrases; to indicating some form of emphasis. For instance, the dashes in the 4th line which states “- and You - beside-“ could indicate that the author was actually referring to the reader, to emphasize that the brain’s analogy to manifest or exhibit wide-ranging capacity much like the sky also applies to the reader.
In addition, the poem is replete with metaphors as a figurative language. The author compared the brain to the sky, to the sea, and was professed to be “just the weight of God-“ . The two object of comparison are more clearly discerned since the brain was compared to the sky to indicate its wide and encompassing range and ability to contain voluminous information beyond what one could image, just like the span of the sky which is beyond one’s visual range. Likewise, the brain being compared to the deep sea; and also similarly compared to a sponge in its ability to absorb and contain data, information and other external stimuli more than what one could actually measure. However, by indicating that the brain is just the weight of God could send confusing messages to the reader. For one, who could ever grasp the weight of God, even literally or figuratively? Likewise, the use of the simile: Syllable and Sound in the 12th line apparently added more confusion to the readers in trying to find out what the author actually meant. In the end, it is perceived that although Dickinson asserted that the brain is supposedly just the weight of God, which could indicate that the gravity or heaviness of the substances, contents and information could be compared to God’s overpowering governance over mankind; there is still this disparity within which the brain is taken into context. Since the author used syllable and sound as the symbols of comparison, readers could have different interpretations according to how they perceive the scenario. For one, the meaning could potentially be that a syllable is just what it specifically represents: a part of a word or a unit of spoken language – which is exact and just one. The brain could symbolize a syllable as part of the human body – just one part. The brain as compared to a sound, which could be a tone, a note, or a reverberation of elements that vibrate – which could produce music; could be interpreted in its ability to use the information collected into something beautiful, meaningful, productive. And only God, who had the power to create man with a brain, is able to comparably do this.
Work Cited
Dickinson, Emily. "The Brain- is wider than the Sky -." n.d. Print.
