For “The Soul Selects Her Own Society,” I understood it in the way that we, ourselves, select who we choose to engage with and let in. Not just into our lives but into our hearts and, quite literally, as the poem says, our souls. When Dickinson states, “Then — shuts the Door —””To her divine Majority —””Present no more —” made me think of someone closing the door on others who try to come into their “soul” or space. That whoever you already let in is enough for you. Dickinson’s use of the metaphor of one’s soul being a door greatly helped me come to this conclusion.

For “The Brain is Wider than the Sky,” I understood it as the brain being bigger than the sky. There is more to the brain than what we think, and Dickinson’s metaphors help to show you that the brain is more complex than anything else. For example, in the stanza where she says, “The Brain is deeper than the sea…” “As Sponges—Buckets—do,” makes me think of the brain being able to hold so much knowledge that it sucks it up or absorbs it. Although the brain is smaller in size in comparison to the sea, it holds just as much as the sea can and even more.