Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

Benjamin Zerante's picture

Emily Dickinson Response

At first I took this stanza on the surface level and missed some of the deeper implications that we discussed. I took a more flowery approach and thought that Emily Dickinson was commenting on the imaginative power of the brain and our ability to conceive of things that are bigger than our physical brain. While my first analysis was not completely off, it was perhaps too simple. Taken to the extreme, Dickinson is actually implying that the “Sky” as well as everything about us is a construction of the brain. If that is so, then everything around us (our perceptions) as well as our behavior is a result of our brains. People perceive the world differently and act differently due mainly to brain variations. This is such an important point for educators to digest because we are responsible for shaping the minds of young people. That is an enormous responsibility and undertaking and as stewards of that mission, it is our duty to understand to the best of our ability what we are acting upon. Environment affects the brain, so what we do in the classroom changes our students’ brains.

Reply

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
15 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.