Understanding Emily Dickinson

"Faith" is a fine invention

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"Faith" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see—
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency. 

Emily Dickinson

First off, the first line immediately reminds me of the statement in Grendel when the monster states, how religion is lunatic theory or something to that degree. I digress. Anyway, although this poem is very short, Dickinson conveys a significant message in such little text. I think Dickinson is commenting (possibly criticizing) briefly the hypocrisy of man and religion. In times of need when there is life or an outcome is certain, man does not call upon or practice in faith. Only in times of need, when the fear of uncertainty dons upon man and the future is out of his hands do they call upon a higher power to save them from their troubles. Dickinson uses metaphor to compare the treatment of faith by man as an invention, something that is manmade, a fallacy, or not concrete and true. When Dickinson calls faith an invention, she is describing how man do not display a devotion to their faith in time when they can "see" or in other words in times when their lives are pleasant and the future seems certain. However, Dickinson states that in emergencies. In modern times, I relate this to the idea of praying only when you need something. This is using God. If this is truly what Dickinson was trying to express, it speaks volumes about her thoughts about men in her society. The poem could state about man that once we become too great in our thinking and views of ourselves, our value of God decreases greatly. This includes places mortal desires and priorities over those of God. The microscopes represent the difficulty of sight.  Microscopes are optical instruments that have magnifying lens or a combination of lens for inspecting objects too small to be seen or too small to be seen directly and in detail by the unaided eye. Microscopes aid humans in their vision of things not distinguishable to the naked human eye. I think the microscopes are symbolic of the presence yet invisibility o f harmful things in life. Furthermore, the microscopes portray to me some kind o juxtaposition between the positions of humans as the small objects in which are magnified by God. Thus, since we are not able to see these things bring about considerable uncertainty. In these times of uncertainty, which I believe Dickinson characterizes as emergencies, man calls upon Go to help see what we mortals cannot see because God sees all. God is the microscope. He is an entity that, sees, hears, and watches all even when we cannot see things that are right in front of us. Dickinson could very p[possibly be criticizing the abuse of religion by man. Religion is not a seasonal or occasional devotion. It is one in which one’s life must be fully dedicated to the word and values of your faith. Finally, even the structure of the poem lends itself to the two main contrasting ideas I mentioned. The dash after the first line separates the two ideas structurally.