Emily and Irony

Emily and Irony
Emily Dickinson’s “Much Madness is Divinest Sense” and Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” both explore the age-old battle of the individual struggling with a society that imposes a dehumanizing conformity. Although each author uses specific techniques to expound upon her message, both Dickinson and Piercy use irony effectively and powerfully to convey the overall meanings of their poems. Emily Dickinson employs a strong paradox to express her point, and uses the metaphor of madness throughout the poem. The issue at hand for the speaker in this poem is that of the individual versus society, or conformity versus nonconformity, and what happens when one chooses to ignore the crowd. Those who have different beliefs, and could even be more intelligent than ourselves, are labeled as “mad and dangerous.” An ironic situation arises because there is a seeming discrepancy between what one would expect and what actually occurs in the poem. Marge Piercy examin...