An Analysis of Dickinson’s I Felt a Funeral in My Brain Essay

In the first line, “I felt a funeral, in my brain / And Mourners to and fro”, the speaker imagines a funeral inside her brain and feels mourners going back and forth, which could mean that her thoughts are full of sorrow and her mind is going crazy. One interesting thing I saw in this poem is that the speaker does not want readers to think that she is comparing her feelings to a funeral. She does not say “It felt like a funeral, in my brain” instead she says “I felt a funeral, in my brain”. Changing this part would give readers a

Emily Dickinson’s poem, “After great pain, a formal feeling comes-“is a profound portrayal of the debilitating process of grief human beings undergo when confronted with a horrific tragedy. The response to that ultimate pain is the predominance of numbness, “After great pain, a formal feeling comes-/The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs-“(1-2). This is a poem that must be read slowly to become saturated in the melancholy, the dehumanization of suffering as it affects each aspect of the body without reference to the chaotic emotionality of it. The abundance of metaphors within Dickinson’s poem provides the means to empathize the necessity of numbness. It is also through the use of punctuation and capitalization, depicting the presence of a

Dickinson traces a mental breakdown through the stages of a funeral ritual to chart the plodding disintegration of her senses. As opposed to condemning people with mental illness or dismissing them in a reductive manner, Dickinson explores the thematic terror these individuals must have felt as all that was once understood is absent and rapidly eroding. The poetess’s use of the apt metaphor; funeral expresses the turmoil in the mind of the speaker describing the onset of psychosis characterized by monotony, morbidity, and repetitiveness so oppressive that ‘it seemed that sense was breaking through.’ The claustrophobic setting of the funeral and the heightened awareness of the sounds through onomatopoeia; ‘treading,’ ‘beating,’

The second stanza discusses the state of mind of those waiting by the deathbed of the speaker. They have obviously been crying by the suggestion that their eyes had "wrung them dry." Through this description that they have stopped their weeping it is implied that they have now accepted the death of the speaker. In the second line of this stanza, the people are holding their breath for "that last Onset - when the King be witnessed." The King is probably God in this context and they are all awaiting his entering the room to take the soul of the speaker. The word onset as defined in Webster's Dictionary is "a setting out; start; beginning." This suggests that the death of the speaker is a beginning of an eternal life in heaven and not necessarily just an end to mortal life. Everyone in the room is expectant of the presence of God to carry the speaker to the this celestial afterlife.

In Dickinson’s poem, “Because I could not stop for Death,” there is much impression in the tone, in symbols, and in the use of imagery that exudes creativity. One might undoubtedly agree to an eerie, haunting, if not frightening, tone in Dickinson’s poem. Dickinson uses controlling adjectives—“slowly” and “passed”—to create a tone that seems rather placid. For example, “We slowly drove—He knew no haste / …We passed the School … / We passed the Setting Sun—,” sets a slow, quiet, calm, and dreamy atmosphere (5, 9, 11,

The subject of death, including her own was a very prevalent theme in Emily Dickinson’s poems and letters. Some may find her preoccupation with death morbid, but this was not unusual for her time period. The mindset during Ms. Dickinson’s time was that of being prepared to die, in the 19th century people died of illness and accidents at an alarming rate, not to mention the Civil War had a high number of casualties, she also lived 15 years of her youth next to a cemetery. Dickinson’s view on death was never one of something to be feared she almost romanized death, in her poem “Because I Could not Stop for Death”, she actually personifies death while narrating from beyond the grave. In the first stanza she states “I could not stop for

In her poem “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (340),” Emily Dickinson describes the experience of listening to a funeral inside one’s head. During this experience, Dickinson mixes the physical, the intellectual, and the spiritual realities in order to portray the speaker’s descent into insanity. In the first stanza, the speaker announces that he or she feels a funeral inside his or her brain. Those who have come to mourn the dead are moving around “to and fro” (153). The mourners keep walking (“treading—treading”) until it seemed “that Sense was breaking through—“(153).

The “mourners” may possibly her sanity and reasoning and her repetition of ‘treading – treading –’ may signify that her own mind is mocking and trampling all over her. Dickinson soon after mentions ‘A Service, like a Drum – Kept beating – beating –’ wish may possibly be her own heartbeat beating in horror which can be concluded from the following line,’till I thought my mind was going numb –’. Oftenly a drum is used to convey a heart beating and I can imagine that when someone’s heart is beating endlessly, their mind may struggle to be in the right mindset as well. There must be no horror greater and troubling then seeing yourself unravel and unhinged from your own

In the poem "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain" Emily Dickinson exposes a person's intense anguish and suffering as they sink into a state of extreme madness. The poem is a carefully constructed analysis of the speaker's own mental experience. Dickinson uses the image of a funeral-service to symbolize the death of the speaker's sanity. The poem is terrifying for the reader as it depicts a realization of the collapse of one's mental stability, which is horrifying for most. The reader experiences the horror of the speaker's descending madness as the speaker's mind disintegrates and loses its grasp on reality. "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain,"

The entire poem itself is a symbol- the funeral is not an actual funeral. There is not actually a funeral going on inside of her brain- the entire thing is a symbol for her thoughts and feelings during the time of her drifting into insanity. In support of this, “With those same Boots of Lead, again”(11) demonstrates the symbolism with her mental health condition being a rythmic noise. This line in the poem shows the reader that despite the temporary relief from her ever-growing pain, with the word “again”(11) suggesting the return.

This is significant because it emphasizes the melancholy and mournfulness that he depicts with imagery in the first stanza. Later on in the second stanza, he author describes the tree the narrator would have planted as a “green sapling rising among the twisted apple boughs”. The author uses visual color imagery of the color green to describe the sapling in order to emphasize just how young the newborn was when he died. Later on in the poem, the narrator speaks of himself and his brothers kneeling in front of the newly plated tree. The fact that they are kneeling represents respect for the deceased. When the narrator mentions that the weather is cold it is a reference back to the first stanza when he says “of an old year coming to an end”. Later on in the third stanza the author writes “all that remains above earth of a first born son” which means that the deceased child has been buried. They also compare the child to the size of “a few stray atoms” to emphasize that he was an infant. All of these symbols and comparisons to are significant because they are tied to the central assertion of remembrance and honoring of the dead with the family and rebirth.

Dickinson begins by breaking through the boundary of discussing the initial loss of one’s sanity through the funeral metaphor and diction. She establishes that she “felt” her funeral to emphasize the pain associated with her transition from stability to instability. The pain is further magnified as “mourners” repeatedly “tread” over her sanity, forcing her to succumb to the death of her sanity. Still, she feels a sense of hope as “Sense” attempts to:” [break] through.” Unfortunately, Dickinson uses a dash at the end of the line to foreshadow

“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” by Emily Dickinson states the death or transformation of something that is associated with the author. A funeral is usually associated with the death of someone, but in this case, it's eternal. Therefore, the author has lost something that is associated with her character. “My mind is going numb”, the feeling of numbness usually means that something is not working properly or at all. The authors brain is “going numb” could mean that the author herself is not aware of what is going on around her. “And then I heard them lift a box/ And creak across my soul”. When the author mentions “them”, she’s talking about the mourners, which in this case are the people

In the poem the speaker imagines that a funeral is taking place inside of her brain. The funeral service begins and all the mourners get seated. The religious gathering is loud and the drum-like beating makes her think her mind is going numb. The mourners at the service lift the casket and walk across her soul.

Throughout any person’s life, there will be mental and emotional challenges to overcome. The most difficult part of the challenge is deciding which path to take. Funeral, in my Brain’ by Emily Dickinson is about the poem’s speaker slowly going insane. The first stanza uses a funeral as a metaphor for what is going on in her mind. Then, the poem goes on with the procession of the funeral. Finally, the speaker makes her descent into madness. Dickinson uses the setting of a funeral to describe the mental battle between madness and sanity.