Emily Dickinson's Poems on Faith

Thesis: Emily Dickinson offers two approaches to the idea of faith in her poems “I never saw a Moor” and “‘Faith’ is a fine invention”.

Both poems discuss religious faith and support it in different ways.

• In “I never saw a Moor”, the speaker says that she is “certain” of the existence of God and Heaven even though she has never seen them, just as she is certain of the existence of the sea (7).  The speaker of this poem proclaims her faith, defining it as the knowledge of the existence of God without physical evidence.

• “‘Faith’ is a fine invention” acknowledges that “‘Faith’ is a fine invention / When Gentlemen can see” (1-2).  The italicized “see” contrasts with the italicized word “Microscopes” in line 3; microscopes are made for a specific type of focused sight, while simply “seeing” is more generic.  The speaker of the second poem acknowledges that faith provides a good outlook on life, even if it is not always useful for when Gentlemen must do, that is, do more than merely see.

While both speakers acknowledge that faith can be good, the speaker of “‘Faith’ is a fine invention” acknowledges that faith is not perfect.

• The speaker of the latter focuses on the uses of faith and concrete reality rather than the beauty of them.  She adds at the end of the poem that “Microscopes are prudent / In an Emergency” (3-4).  While faith and religion feed the spirituality of humanity, something else must look after the physical world.  When the concrete world is in need of attention or help, Microscopes, which represent study, focus, and purpose, can prove to be extremely useful.  Both religion and science are essential to humanity, but for different reasons and different situations.

• The speaker of “I never saw a Moor” speaks highly of her own faith, using the analogies of a Moor and the Sea to describe her certainty of the existence of God.  However, the speaker of this poem does not address faith in general as the other one does.

These poems offer different but not conflicting viewpoints.

• “‘Faith’ is a fine invention” suggests that faith is good but not perfect because it can be practiced but not utilized.  She speaks of faith objectively in the third person.

• “I never saw a Moor” testifies of the beauty and completeness that faith can have, but does not discuss faith objectively.  Instead, she provides a personal, first person testimony of her own faith, stating simply that she is faithful.

• The two poems do not disagree over faith; they simply discuss it in different ways.  Therefore, the poems can complement each other rather than conflicting with one another.

The Picture of Dorian Gray #4

Dorian proves yet again to be unable to resist the influence of Lord Henry.  When he comes to call on Dorian in Chapter VIII, he informs Dorian of Sibyl Vane’s death.  At first, Dorian sees tragedy in his ex-fiancé’s death, “stammer[ing] in a stifled voice” several short and unfinished sentences and questions, indicating that he is emotionally overwhelmed (72).  Lord Henry, however, sees the situation differently.  He sees remarkable beauty in Sibyl’s death, and adds that humans are angered not by the tragedy of death but by the crudeness of it.  That way, he claims, “a tragedy that possesses artistic elements of beauty […] simply appeals to our sense of dramatic effect” (74).  Dorian, just as in the garden, takes Lord Henry’s words to heart.  He thanks Lord Henry profusely, saying, “You have explained me to myself” (76).  He even concludes that his love affair with Sibyl “has been a marvelous experience” (76).  Dorian’s tone has changed drastically over the course of Henry’s visit, from frantic and overwhelmed to calm and satisfied.  Even though Dorian promises himself that he “would not, at any rate, listen to those subtle poisonous theories that had in Basil Hallward’s garden had first stirred within him the passion for impossible things”, once again, he falls prey to Henry’s aggressive aesthetic epigrams (67).

The Picture of Dorian Gray #3

In this section of Wilde's novel, many of the characters, particularly those in the Vane family, reflect the aestheticism in which Wilde strongly believed throughout his life. For example, when Jim Vane enters his house during Sibyl's conversation with her mother, Sibyl "felt a little disappointed that [Jim] had not joined the group. It would have increased the theatrical picturesqueness of the situation" (46). Sibyl remarks that she wishes the situation to resemble a play; she wishes that an ordinary scene in her life can be beautiful enough to be worthy of display before an audience. Her disappointment that her everyday life is not this beautiful is evidence of her own aesthetic philosophy similar to Wilde's, that life should always resemble art. Similarly, when Jim is on his way out the door to embark on a voyage by sea, his mother is moved by the "exaggerated folly of the threat [to kill Dorian if he mistreats Sibyl], the passionate gesture that accompanied it, [and] the mad melodramatic words" because the combination "made life seem more vivid to her" (52). Because the whole situation is hyperbolic and overly emotional, Mrs. Vane is actually more emotionally moved than she would be if she and her children were speaking at a more normal emotional level. Mrs. Vane has a similar worldview to her daughter in that she also believes that her life is better lives when it resembles dramatic theatre.

The view of Sibyl's brother Jim contrasts strongly with that of his mother and sister. When he says his goodbyes to Sibyl before his long journey, he makes a point of doing so away from his mother because "She would surely make a scene, and he detested scenes of every kind" (51). The word "scene" takes on a double meaning, meaning both a hyperbolic display of emotion and a situation in a play. Jim hates the exaggerated emotion that his mother tends to display, and at the same time, Wilde hints at Jim's symbolic dislike of theatre. This hidden meaning suggests that Jim rejects the aesthetic philosophy of the rest of his family.

"'Out, Out—'" by Robert Frost

Robert Frost uses several literary techniques to emphasize the tragedy of the death of the young boy in his poem, “‘Out, Out—’”

• The speaker of the poem evokes strong feelings of sadness and grief with concise allusion.

• In his title, the speaker alludes to the death of Lady Macbeth, the final scene of Shakespeare’s tragic play Macbeth.  In his monologue, Macbeth cries, “Out, out, brief candle!” comparing his late wife to a candle that has been extinguished suddenly and unexpectedly

• Macbeth’s monologue has a tone of pain and intense grief.  The speaker, by alluding to this monologue, evokes all the emotions it contains in a two-word title.

• Immediately after the boy’s accident, the speaker directly quotes the boy.

• The boy fearfully tells his sister, “Don’t let him cut my hand off” (25).  The boy believes that losing his hand is the worst that could happen to him.  This belief, however, is dramatically ironic because the boy dies at the end of the poem.  This dramatic irony enhances the tragedy of the boy’s death because it displays the boy’s naïve innocence.

• Moreover, direct quotation makes the incident feel more real.  Telling the reader exactly what the boy cries is more effective than narrating in the third person.  The boy’s first person plea intensifies this moment of the poem above any other moment.

• The end of the poem is rather cold; as soon as the boy dies, the scene appears to return to normal disturbingly quickly.

• The shift in tone happens in line 32, literally the exact same line in which the boy dies.  The speaker, referring to the boy’s heartbeat, narrates, “Little—less—nothing!” and, without even starting a new line, continues, “and that ended it.”  This fast shift is disconcerting because the reader may feel as though the boy’s loved ones do not have enough time or room to grieve over him.

• Immediately, the people who witnessed the boy’s death “turned to their affairs”, as if they are finished grieving.  The lack of sentimentality at the end of the poem makes the reader uncomfortable because of the human need to grieve the loss of a loved one. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray #1

When the reader meets Harry and Basil in the first chapter of The Picture of Dorian Gray, the two men are foils as they see beauty in opposite ways. This is evident in the way both men speak of Dorian Gray. Basil sees beauty as strictly physical, particularly that of Dorian. Basil's view correlates with the fact that the first time Dorian's name is mentioned, it is Basil who refers to his "good looks" (3). Basil most values beauty as a physical property, and it appears to be the attribute that he values most in Dorian.  In contrast, Harry knows Dorian only by his "beautiful nature" and does not even expect Dorian to have physical beauty at first (10). Harry sees beauty as an attribute of character rather than one of the body, the opposite of the opinion of his painter companion. The two ways in which these men see Dorian's beauty represent the two schools of thought regarding beauty that Wilde presents in the first chapter of his novel.

The Picture of Dorian Gray Preface

Oscar Wilde states in his Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray that art should not resemble nature, but vice versa.  When he states that “The nineteenth century dislike of Realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass”, he means that the human race is frustrated by its own imperfection (vii).  Art should not always be created with the intention of frustrating its viewers, and therefore it should not resemble the imperfections of real life.  Wilde adds at the end that people must never see art-like beauty in their utilitarian creations because art is created with the purpose of being beautiful, and anything created outside the realm of art is not art (viii).  Wilde’s aesthetic philosophy is unconventional because it challenges the traditional belief that beauty must have a higher moral purpose than simply “beauty for beauty’s sake.”

Wilde’s intends for his tone toward his audience to be blunt and shocking.  Throughout his preface, he uses no language ‘softeners’ such as “it is a not unjustifiable assumption that” or “in my opinion.”  As a result, everything he says is very direct and sounds strong and purposeful.  Wilde sounds much more confident and sure of himself because of his direct and concise language.  Moreover, Wilde states epigrams that the reader may have never considered before or with which the reader may have previously disagreed.  The reader may therefore reluctantly question the rationality of his or her own opinions, which may in fact be more superficial and less insightful than the points Wilde makes.

"The History Teacher" Outline

Thesis: The speaker of Billy Collins' "The History Teacher" warns the reader that it is unrealistic and shortsighted to attempt to protect innocence for too long.

The understatement that the teacher in the poem uses develops from lighthearted and humorous to questionable and dangerous when the topics being understated become more and more serious.

• The first two topics of study in this history class are the Ice Age and the Stone Age, two eras that are not associated with human suffering.  It is therefore acceptable to joke that there periods were simply "the Chilly Age" and "the Gravel Age" respectively (3, 5).
• The subjects soon become more serious, but the teacher continues to understate the scope of the events in question.  The speaker attempts to make the reader feel uncomfortable by referring to the Spanish Inquisition as "an outbreak of questions" because the Inquisition is associated with hatred, murder, and torture, and its historical significance should not be underestimated (7).  Similarly, it is a conventional belief that it is important to educate the public about the hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians murdered by "one tiny atom" (12)
• After the second stanza, the reader begins to question the merit of protecting innocence when the history teacher naïvely hides significant historical events from his students.

The irony behind the history teacher's intentions is that his students are much less innocent than he realizes.

• The speaker reveals in the fifth stanza that the students are bullies, habitually "torment[ing] the weak / and the smart" on the playground (14-15). 
• This situation is dramatically ironic because the title character of the poem is unaware that the children have no innocence to protect.
• The teacher only sets them up for failure because, without necessary knowledge of the past, these children may grow up to repeat the mistakes of history.

The selection of detail in the final stanza reveals a final piece of situational irony about the history teacher.

• The speaker describes the "flower beds and white picket fences" of the teacher's neighborhood (19).  The upper middle class, American Dream style scene that the speaker creates gives the impression that perhaps the history teacher is truly the one that is sheltered, rather than his students.
• When, at the end of the poem, the speaker adds one last instance of understatement of an important historical event, the irony of the situation comes full circle.  The history teacher wonders if his students will believe his white lies, and yet he may actually be the one who does not understand the significance of what is happening in the world beyond his white picket fence.