I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain Emily Dickinson

I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain The poem begins with an unusual statement – “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”. It powerfully suggests that something very unpleasant is happening to the speaker. Most likely, she is experiencing intense mental suffering. The first three stanza of the poem follow the progression of a funeral, which is happening in her “Brain”. In the first stanza the speaker describes the sensation of the mourners moving continuously back and forth. This “treading” leads her to feel that “sense was breaking through”. It is as if the ability to think rationally is breaking under the pressure of the mourners’ feet.

I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain In the second stanza, the mourners have settled down for the funeral service. However, the speaker’s mind does not settle. The service sounds to her like a “Drum” that is being beaten over and over again. This dull, throbbing noise is overbearing and the speaker begins to feel that her “Mind” is going “numb”.

I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain The third stanza describes the carrying of the coffin to the grave. The speaker says she could hear the “box” being lifted. As the mourners move again, the speaker can feel their boots “creak across” her “Soul”. It is as if the mourners were wearing “Boots of lead” and this movement is terribly uncomfortable. The church bells begin to “toll”, a signal that the burial about to take place.

I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain At this point in the poem the speaker feels a very strange sensation. She becomes disorientated and her world, which was already strange and uncomfortable, ceases to be in any way normal. The ringing of the church bell becomes so intense it seems to fill up the entire sky: “all the Heavens were a bell.” At the same time all that exists becomes “an Ear” to receive this sound. But it seems as if the poet is no longer part of this surreal world but has landed in a strange other world where she exists with “Silence”, broken and alone.

I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain Just as she is feeling detached and isolated in this strange place something breaks within her mind, and she feels herself plunge “down, and down” through different worlds until suddenly she loses all consciousness: “And Finished knowing – then – “ We might read this last line in different ways. Perhaps the speaker plummeted down and then finished knowing, losing consciousness or dying and stopped being able to know anything. Alternatively, the “then” at the end could hint at something to follow. The speaker lost consciousness and “then” something else happened that she cannot tell us about because she has lost control of her mind.

THEME: Mental Suffering The poem describes terrible mental suffering. The poet compares her psychological discomfort to a funeral happening inside her head. The notion that people are walking over and back wearing heavy boots of lead powerfully suggests the intensity of her suffering. The whole experience is frightening. It is almost as if the speaker is being buried alive and is helpless to stop what is happening. In the second half of the poem everything becomes very strange and we might guess that the speaker has suffered some kind of mental breakdown.

THEME: Mental Suffering She no longer seems to have a sane grip on the reality. She describes a world where a bell fills the sky and all that exists is an “Ear”. She also describes being in a strange place with only “Silence” for company. It is a strange and terrifying experience. At the end of the poem she suffers a final mental collapse and loses all understanding. A “plank in Reason” breaks and she goes into free fall. She plunges into the darkness of insanity and finishes “knowing.”

LANGUAGE At the heart of the poem is the funeral metaphor. The poet uses various stages of a funeral service to describe her own inner suffering. Comparing her inner turmoil to a funeral allows the poet to express the horror, isolation and intense discomfort that she is experiencing. The image of the mourners “treading” across her head in “Boots of lead” and the comparison of the funeral service to a “Drum” that is repeatedly beaten effectively conveys the pressure that is mounting within her. In both cases, the poet uses repetition to show the strain she is experiencing.

QUESTIONS Read the first two stanzas. How does the poet convey to us that she is suffering? Many readers think this is a poem about mental breakdown rather than actual death. Do you think this is true? Explain your answer. The poem suggests terrible isolation. There is a sense in which the poet is cut off from the rest of the world. How is this conveyed in the poem?