I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280) 2-14-17 I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7v1Rq35BGY
Vocabulary Words mourners (n.) – people expressing grief or sorrow for the dead • service (n.) – a form followed in worship or in a religious ceremony Vocabulary to teach (may include direct word work and/or questions) • to and fro (idiom) – back and forth • sense (n.) – perception or awareness of the mind often produced through the senses: touch, sight, smell, taste, hearing. Can also refer to moral sense or awareness. • treading (v.) – stepping, walking, or trampling so as to press, crush, or injure something • solitary (adj.) – alone; without companions • plank (n.) – a long, flat piece of timber, thicker than a board • reason (n.) – the mental powers concerned with forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences; sound judgment; normal or sound powers of mind; sanity
Highlight the sensory words Dickinson uses. I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280) Emily Dickinson, 1830 - 1886 I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, And Mourners to and fro Kept treading – treading – till it seemed That Sense was breaking through – And when they all were seated, A Service, like a Drum – Kept beating – beating – till I thought My Mind was going numb – And then I heard them lift a Box And creak across my Soul With those same Boots of Lead, again, Then Space – began to toll, As all the Heavens were a Bell, And Being, but an Ear, And I, and Silence, some strange Race Wrecked, solitary, here – And then a Plank in Reason, broke, And I dropped down, and down – And hit a World, at every plunge, And Finished knowing – then – Highlight the sensory words Dickinson uses.
Work in pairs to answer the following questions about the poem Work in pairs to answer the following questions about the poem. These questions are designed to help you gain a deeper understanding of the poem.
Homework What might the "Box" (9) contain? What evidence from the poem supports your thinking?
Take a walk around the classroom and answer the questions on each chart paper.
Based on your observations, determine the central idea in "I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain."