Independent thought is described as the ability to make one’s own decisions, to decide on one’s own choices, and to complete one’s own desires. Often in the modern world, the ability is taken for granted, with many people exercising it every moment of the day. However, for people living in the 1800’s, individual experience does not exist for everyone, especially for women and children. Many authors attempt to tackle the lack of independent society, with none being greater than Emily Dickinson, Henry James, and Kate Chopin. In Emily Dickinson’s “In Much Madness is Divinest Sense” and “This was a Poet”, Henry James’s Daisy Miller: A Study, and Kate Chopin’s “A Story of an Hour”, all the authors depict independent thought as a positive trait.
In her poems “Much Madness is Divinest Sense” and “This was a Poet”, Emily Dickinson expresses her strong conviction in the concept of self-reliance. The first poem, “Much …show more content…
Dickinson writes, “It is That / Distills amazing sense / From Ordinary Meanings” (Dickenson, “This was a Poet” 2-4), which can be interpreted as Dickinson thoroughly believing that poets experience the world differently than the rest of the public. When compared to everyone else, poets appreciate beauty in every matter of life, whether it is small and insignificant or grand and extravagant. To Dickinson, ordinary people only encounter the world on the basic level, attributing the rest of its mysteries to religion and faith. A poet, however, takes the time to critically observe one’s surroundings, slowly discovering the truth behind some of life’s greatest emotions and secrecies. Therefore, poets are the embodiment of independent thought, as their ability to analytically perceive the world is powered via individualistic sensation. Their representations of the world are influenced by no other person or
In her poems “Much Madness is Divinest Sense” and “This was a Poet”, Emily Dickinson expresses her strong conviction in the concept of self-reliance. The first poem, “Much …show more content…
Dickinson writes, “It is That / Distills amazing sense / From Ordinary Meanings” (Dickenson, “This was a Poet” 2-4), which can be interpreted as Dickinson thoroughly believing that poets experience the world differently than the rest of the public. When compared to everyone else, poets appreciate beauty in every matter of life, whether it is small and insignificant or grand and extravagant. To Dickinson, ordinary people only encounter the world on the basic level, attributing the rest of its mysteries to religion and faith. A poet, however, takes the time to critically observe one’s surroundings, slowly discovering the truth behind some of life’s greatest emotions and secrecies. Therefore, poets are the embodiment of independent thought, as their ability to analytically perceive the world is powered via individualistic sensation. Their representations of the world are influenced by no other person or