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1 Much Madness is divinest sense lesson plan Introduction Play the video of Gnarls Barkley s song Crazy : Ask students to consider the song's opening lyric: 'I remember when I lost my mind.' What is strange about this sentence? Is it possible for someone who is crazy to know that he or she is crazy? Does the singer feel happy about the fact that he has lost his mind? Quote lyrics to support your answer. Development Tell the students you are going to read a poem by Emily Dickinson. She was a woman who lived in a small town near Boston, USA in the mid 19th century. In the second half of her life she began to display the following symptoms: very rarely left her home, or often her bedroom; would only talk to visitors from the other side of a door, not face to face; dressed all in white; Furthermore, she also, never married, had children or had a romantic relationship; wrote thousands of poems and letters. Tell students to keep these facts in mind as you read one of her most famous poems, 'Much Madness is divinest Sense.' Read the poem as a class. Education Umbrella,

2 Understanding the poem - vocabulary Match the words from the poem on the left with a synonym (word that means the same thing) on the right. Then use a thesaurus to find an antonym (word that means the opposite). Word Synonym Antonym 1) divine a) Protest 2) discerning b) Obvious 3) stark c) Agree to 4) prevail d) Wonderful 5) assent e) Occur 6) demur f) Perceptive Education Umbrella,

3 Understanding the poem - meaning 1) Why do you think Dickinson wrote this poem? Who is she writing about? 2) Reread the first four lines of the poem. Who does Dickinson consider herself to be - "mad," i.e., sane? Or one of "Sense," i.e., mad? Or is she in fact being sarcastic, i.e., the roles are reversed? 3) How could we summarise the poem's conclusion? (If you follow the crowd you're sane; if you disagree you're "dangerous" and treated with fear and suspicion - "handled with a chain.") Understanding the poem - dashes 1) As she did in many of her poems, Dickinson employs dashes throughout 'Much Madness is divinest Sense': Much Madness is divinest Sense To a discerning eye Dashes are used in a similar way to round brackets (). They can be short - or long. First, compare them to hyphens. Hyphens are shorter and perform a different function. One function is to join words: A man- eating shark NOT A man eating shark A two- year- old daughter NOT A two year old daughter Hyphens also separate syllables in single words: Pre- school children... The post- war settlement... Dashes are used to represent a break in sense or meaning, to separate a different but related point and to represent omitted letters or words. For example: Many children some of them as young as five were left without a parent. The city of Dresden was like the moon hollowed, bare and silent. "I think you sho " "Nope. Not gonna happen." Practice Rewrite the following sentences using dashes: 1. The authorities wanted them removed in part so that others could claim the land. Education Umbrella,

4 (The authorities wanted them removed in part so that others could claim the land.) 2. Post- war Vienna like post- war western Europe was a complex city living on top of a dark past. (Post- war Vienna like post- war western Europe...) 3. After 1989 nothing not the future, not the present and above all not the past would ever be the same. (After 1989 nothing not the future, not the present and above all not the past would ever be the same.) 4. The First World War was a traumatic experience for all the participants half of Serbia's male population between 18 and 55 died in the fighting but it resolved nothing. (The First World War was a traumatic experience for all the participants half of Serbia's male population between 18 and 55 died in the fighting but it resolved nothing.) Analysis Why does Dickinson use so many dashes in her poem? Do you think they could represent missing words, pauses, or something else? How would the poem read without dashes? Main activity Tell the students they are going to read another poem by Emily Dickinson. The dashes have been removed and it is their job to analyse the poem and insert the dashes where they think necessary: Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all And sweetest in the Gale is heard And sore must be the storm That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm I ve heard it in the chillest land And on the strangest Sea Yet never in Extremity, It asked a crumb of me. Education Umbrella,

5 When they have finished, read the poem aloud to the students, pausing slightly at each dash. As you read, the students must insert the dashes they perceive: Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all And sweetest in the Gale is heard And sore must be the storm That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm I ve heard it in the chillest land And on the strangest Sea Yet never in Extremity, It asked a crumb of me. Education Umbrella,