Poem – “Faith” Is a Fine Invention - Emily Dickinson

             Emily Dickinson, a 19^th century poet, is known for her short yet riveting poems. Living a largely reclusive life, Dickinson became an influential American poet that, after death, would is largely regarded as one of the greatest poets and writers in American history. Emily Dickinson did not experience fame nor wealth during her lifetime, this is due to the fact that nearly all of her poems were published after her death, although obviously written on during her lifetime. The majority of her poems deal with the idea of truth, death and immortality. This poem, “Faith” is a fine invention, deals with the broader idea of truth and science. Similar to most of her poems, this is a short, yet deep poem that is easily grammatically understandable which develops eloquently throughout the four short lines. Dickinson’s poem, “Fait” is a fine intervention, is a social and critical analysis of possibly her religious views which she seems critical it is developed as a crux for society.

            Emily Dickinson’s criticism of faith relies on the idea that it used being used as a crux for social and religious justification. Her use of the word faith as an invention is indicative of her view of religion as an abstract belief that is generally used by fools who justify their actions through religion. She implies that the use and belief in faith with proof is justified when it is not the sole justification for action. An overlooked connection between the lines is that she compares the use of faith to that of a tendency to ground the faith in evidence. While the main criticism lies on the notion that faith is used to dictate human actions in not only society but their everyday lives, she also notes that faith grounded in evidence fails to make a coherent explanation for certain issues, when necessary to be applied. This is most clearly shown in the use of the word microscope. Considering how short the poem is, her chosen words, and diction are very precise and used to convey the maximum meaning of her work. The use of microscope instead of a simile of science represents that people use faith as a microscope currently, but she is adamant about the inability for faith to be readily applied in some instances, specifically emergencies.

            The purpose of Dickinson’s work is to illuminate her criticism surrounding the combination of science and faith and blindly applying it to situations where it is unwarranted. The point of this argument centers around the idea that faith can be good, except when used with science and in emergency scientific (use of the “microscope”) fails to take into account the inability for humanity to shape the events which they have no control over, thus, trying to justify actions through faith and science provides an impossible solution to problems. In the overall spirit of her argument, it is not so much that, faith is bad and it shouldn’t be a guide, but rather a combination of spirit and faith in decisions, especially emergencies or ones where science cannot be applied, is dangerous.