Much Madness is divinest Sense

This poem begins with a paradox, "Much Madness is divinest Sense" basically saying that those who are mad actually have the most sense. I think this paradox is effective because to me, it really is an opposite statement that contains truth. Sometimes, people who go off on their own ideas and don't follow the path set by society, often achieve the most success.
The speaker states later in the poem that "assent-and you are sane-demur-you're straightway dangerous-and handled with a chain". I think this is saying that society often wants people to conform. If people agree with the rules set by society and go along with what society says is right then they are considered normal. Those who stray away from society and strive to be different are considered "weird" or "strange" or "insane". They are treated badly just for being different. I think the speaker is saying that it's okay to be different and those who are different are actually the wisest of everyone.
This poem makes me think of the movie Legally Blonde. Elle Woods is a typical sorority girl living in a society that classifies her as a dumb blonde whose only good trait is her looks. However, she breaks out of the sterotypes and decides to enroll in Harvard Law School. Everyone thinks she is insane and crazy, but she proves them all wrong and solves a murder case.

The Widow's Lament in Springtime

I felt a lot of sympathy for the speaker of this poem. She's looking at the nature around her and all of it reminds her of her deceased husband. I found a  paradox in the poem, "cold fire". She is explaining how she sees things differently now that her husband is gone and pain is now overcoming her life. I think the paradox is effective because it shows how drastically the speaker's emotions have changed. She feels like she is being engulfed by darkness and despair. The vibrant "fire" or zest for life she once had has been transformed to "cold". However, it's not the nature's beauty that has changed, but the woman's attitude. The line "some bushes yellow and some red but the grief in my heart is stronger than they" states that the woman has given up hope and feels like her only option is suicide. 

Death-15

"Undoing all their wholesome death-conditioning with this disgusting outcry-as though death were something terrible, as though any one mattered as much as all that!" (Brave New World,  page 206)


A nurse states this quote as she is witnessing children watching John mourn the lost of his mother. The paradox appears completely ridiculous because as the readers, we don't understand how someone could not mourn after a death. However, the statement is a paradox because it contains the truth that in this place, death is looked upon as a necessity and not a tragedy. I think the paradox is effective because it really makes the reader recognize how different this society is from our own, where death is really not taken seriously at all, just accepted.


John has now lost the only person who he was close to. Nevertheless, not even Linda fully understood John because she too was raised in the civilized society. It's very difficult for me to comprehend the idea of not having a family and not mourning after death. I feel like the reader can relate to John because he too does not understand the ways of this society. 


I don't know if John will completely give up and lose hope or strive to change the society. I feel like he is the type of person who seeks change.