I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, (340) BY EMILY DICKINSON

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, (340)
BY EMILY DICKINSON
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 -






Emily Dickinson's poem "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain", Dickinson describes what seems to be a funeral in her mind. In the first stanza Dickinson begins to describe this slow death of her mind when she says, "Mourners to and fro kept treading-treading till it seemed that sense was giving way."

Theme :

Madness and Sanity

Summery : 

The speaker imagines that a funeral is taking place inside her brain, and she can feel the mourners pacing back and forth.

The mourners sit down, and the funeral service begins. Unfortunately, this service seems more like a performance of "Stomp" than a religious gathering. The drum-like beating of the service makes her think her mind is going numb.
It is possible that the poem deals with a psychical death. The mourners lift the casket and walk across her "Soul" (10). For some reason, they are wearing heavy lead boots, which isn't very thoughtful of them.

At the end of the service, she feels as though a church bell were ringing inside her head. She imagines her mind as the entire universe. She feels like she is "Wrecked" (16) and alone except for Silence, her only companion. 


Analysis : 
I Felt a Funeral in my Brain presents a narrative image of one slowly descending into madness and gives the reader a first person outlook on the whole ordeal. This poem, written by Emily Dickinson, a depressed antisocial poet, was written in 1862 in the solitude of her own home. It is also conceivable that the poem depicts the mind’s downward journey into madness or psychological dislocation.

etaphors and imagery of funerals, planks, and mourners to describe the situation at hand. The main theme of this poem is one’s journey into madness, from the beginning where “Sense” (line 4) is still reasonable, until the end, where “a Plank of Reason broke” (line 17). Throughout the poem, Dickinson tells a story, not from her own experience, but rather from her imagination and contemplations over a loss of reason and insanity. This expository poem I Felt a Funeral in my Brain gives Dickinson’s view that one’s journey into insanity is originated by ones imagination by using imagery, metaphors, and a narrative story.

The poem ends on an ominous note.The theme of the poem is Madness and Sanity.

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