Much Madness is divinest Sense—

“We never know how high we are” by Emily Dickinson (1870)

In this lyric poem, Dickinson’s speaker merges with the majority through the plural pronoun “we.” As in “Much Madness is divinest Sense,” the speaker remains critical of human beings, suggesting that people are too afraid to reach great heights. Conversely, the speaker allows for doubt: People don’t know how high they are until they’re there. In “Much Madness is divinest Sense,” the speaker doesn’t doubt that the majority mislabels senselessness and sense.

“The crowd at the ball game” by William Carlos Williams (1923)

As with the majority in Dickinson’s poem, the crowd at the baseball game in this poem by the 20th-century American poet William Carlos Williams is somewhat odious. Williams describes the diverse, rambunctious crowd as unthinkingly cheering on the home team. Similar to Dickinson’s poem, Williams’s lyric links to the frightening power of the masses and their capacity for conflict.

“The Crazy Woman” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1960)

Brooks’s speaker goes against the majority in her lyric poem and sings a “gray” song in November instead of a happy song in May. To punish her deviation, the majority says, “That is the Crazy Woman / Who would not sing in May” (Lines 11-12).