18 pages • 36 minutes read
Emily Dickinson"Faith" is a fine invention
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1891A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Remembrance” by Emily Brontë (1846)
Critics often compare Dickinson with Victorian poet and writer Emily Brontë since both women isolated themselves from society and produced keen works. Brontë wrote the canonized stormy romance novel Wuthering Heights (1847) and many poems. One of her more famous poems is “Remembrance,” where the speaker has to balance their passion for a departed love with a reasonable life. As with “‘Faith’ is a fine invention,” Brontë’s poem relies on juxtaposition and addresses when to yield to feelings and how to embrace rationality.
“I’m Nobody! Who are you?” by Emily Dickinson (ca 1861)
Read alongside “‘Faith’ is a fine invention,” this poem furthers the argument that Dickinson is carefully lampooning the “Gentlemen” (Line 2) and their faith. In “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” Dickinson compares visible members of society, like gentlemen, to frogs and bogs. Her speaker calls overtly notable people “dreary” (Line 5) since what’s admirable isn’t public acclaim but a private identity. Just as “‘Faith’ is a fine invention” subverts ideas about gender, this poem overturns norms about fame. The speaker puts down people with widely known personas and lifts up the so-called “nobodies.” Dickinson’s appreciation of “nobodies” might be why the speaker in “‘Faith’ is a fine invention” remains mysterious and has the wisdom to tell the somebodies how to behave.
“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman (1867)
In her introduction to The Essential Emily Dickinson (Ecco, 2016), Joyce Carol Oates writes that Dickinson and Whitman “have come to represent the extreme, idiosyncratic poles of the American psyche.” In other words, Dickinson symbolizes interiority and privacy, while Whitman—with his long, rapturous lines about the wonders of the external world—represents robust public engagement. In “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” Whitman’s speaker leaves a lecture by an astronomer and soaks in “the mystical moist night-air.” In conversation with Dickinson’s poem, Whitman’s speaker chooses faith over microscopes, so perhaps Whitman’s speaker is one of the “Gentlemen who see!” (Line 2).
Further Literary Resources
Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1606)
Dickinson read the prolific English playwright and poet William Shakespeare, and his tragedy, Macbeth, relates to the themes of “‘Faith’ is a fine invention.” In a sense, the eponymous character, Macbeth, suffers from excessive faith. He believes too strongly in the witches, who tell him he should be king. He also has excessive faith in his wife, Lady Macbeth, who manipulates him into carrying out lethal acts so that he can become king. As with “‘Faith’ is a fine invention,” the play explores the fallibility of men. Macbeth isn’t so commanding or independent. He’s weak and easily led astray by Lady Macbeth and the witches, who seem much more poised and cleverer.
Hard Times by Charles Dickens (1854)
“Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life,” begins Charles Dickens’s satirical novel of Utilitarianism. In the story, the teacher Thomas Gradgrind doesn’t balance faith and intellectual thought like the speaker in “‘Faith’ is a fine invention” recommends. Instead, Gradgrind exclusively favors rationality or “Microscopes” (Line 3). As the plot unfolds, Gradgrind has to figure out how to embrace faith—not faith in religion but faith in intangible emotions and feelings.
The Emily Dickinson Reader by Paul Legault (2012)
In The Emily Dickinson Reader, the American poet Paul Legault turns all of Dickinson’s poems into mostly amusing quips. The book pokes fun at her enigmatic reputation and the many myths that surround her, including the notion that she was deeply in love with her brother’s wife. Legault’s simplified translation of “‘Faith’ is a fine invention” reads: “Science has more practical uses than religion.”
Listen to Poem
Listen to a YouTube user, KafkaCoughDrops, read Dickinson’s poem with poise and some attitude.
Related Titles
By Emily Dickinson
