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Emily DickinsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
One immediate literary context for Dickinson’s poem is Transcendentalism—a movement that occurred in the United States during Dickinson’s lifetime. Bolstered by New England writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, Transcendentalist writings favored a spiritual relationship with the larger world. They wanted to leave behind—transcend—the single self and become a part of something greater. In his essay “Nature” (1836), Emerson describes a rapturous moment in the forest: “I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all.” The emphasis on vision relates to Dickinson’s poem as it mentions “Gentleman who see!” (Line 2) and “Microscopes” (Line 4). A straightforward, non-satirical reading of the poem could include Transcendentalists in the group of Gentleman and turn “Microscopes” (Line 3) into symbols for the human eye.
Keeping in mind the tongue-in-cheek tone of “‘Faith’ is a fine invention,” it’s possible to read the poem as a challenge to the elevated mysticism championed by Transcendentalists. In this reading, Dickinson tells Transcendentalists their intangible “‘[f]aith’” (Line 1) might mislead, so they may want to rely on something more concrete, like a literal microscope. The satirical tone also relates to Utilitarianism—a 19th-century development in England that placed a premium on facts and rationality.
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
Emily Dickinson
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson
The Only News I Know
Emily Dickinson
There is no Frigate like a Book
Emily Dickinson