the brain

Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924.

Part One: Life

CXXVI

The Brain

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

For—put them side by side—

The one the other will contain

With ease—and You—beside—

The Brain is deeper than the sea—

For—hold them—Blue to Blue—

The one the other will absorb—

As Sponges—Buckets—do—

The Brain is just the weight of God—

For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—

And they will differ—if they do—

As Syllable from Sound—

Summary:

The first stanza contrasts the brain with the sky and shows that the brain is wider, because it can think about the sky and at the same time can think about the person who is thinking about the sky..

The second stanza contrasts the brain with the sea and claims that the brain can absorb the sea as a sponge absorbs a bucket of water, again referring the vast thinking ability of the brain.

The third stanza contrasts, as well as compares, the brain with God. The brain, the speaker insists, is the “weight of God”—for if they are hefted “Pound for Pound,” the brain’s weight will differ from the weight of God only in the way that syllable differs from sound.

Form:

This poem employs all of Dickinson’s familiar formal patterns: it consists of three four-line stanzas metered iambically, with tetrameter used for the first and third lines of each stanza and trimeter used for the second and fourth lines; it follows ABCB rhyme schemes in each stanza; and uses the long dash as a rhythmic device designed to break up the flow of the meter and indicate short pauses.

Interpretation:

Dickinson testifies to the mind’s capacity to absorb, interpret, and subsume perception and experience. The brain is wider than the sky despite its size because the brain is able to incorporate the universe into itself, and thereby even to absorb the ocean. The source of this capacity, in this poem, is God. In an astonishing comparison Dickinson likens the minds capabilities to “the weight of God”, differing from that weight only as syllable differs from sound.

This final stanza reads quite easily, but is actually rather complex— both the brain and God seem to have similar power, since there are no limits to their capabilities. it is difficult to know precisely what Dickinson means. The brain differs from God, or from the weight of God, as syllable differs from sound; the difference between syllable and sound is that syllable is given human structure as part of a word, while sound is raw, unformed.

One interpretation might be that Dickinson seems to conceive of God here as an essence (sound) that takes its form from that of the human mind (syllable), since it is the brain that conceives the idea of God. Another interpretation might be that God still remains greater than the brain, because while the brain is a syllable, God is sound, and the syllable is the instrument by which sound is articulated.

In my own opinion, I don't believe that Dickinson tries to make a statement as to which of the two surpasses the other. Neither do I think that it is a question of which one gives rise to the other: is it the brain that creates God, or is God the creator of the brain? I think that what she actually means by that comparison of syllable and sound is that even if they are alike in terms of capabilities, they are not comparable on the same level, but rather parallel concepts.

source 1, source 2