2. I felt a Funeral, in my Brain – 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 –

Background

· The funeral is an extended metaphor for the speaker’s suffering – funeral is a metaphor for her inner sufferings

· There are signs of possible mental collapse in this poem

· We also get a sense of helplessness – brought to the edge of reason like the coffin being brought to the edge of a grave

Poem Analysis

· Structure: 5 separate stanzas

· The first 3 stanzas of the poem make sense – show the different stages of a funeral that we can all relate to – it is almost like a story – structured slightly unusual but there is a sense of trauma and powerlessness – feels as though sense is nearly breaking through but not quite

· The last two stanzas change into the surreal – little logic behind the description of events

· Poem is dominated by funereal imagery – being confined within a coffin and being conscious – both aural and visual imagery

· Poem concludes in an unsurprisingly ambiguous manner

· Capitalisation is used frequently by Dickinson to highlight the essence of the experience

· Stanza One:

This first stanza is all about the sensation of the mourners
“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” – this strange declaration in the opening statement conveys that something terrible is happening – personal “I” – we know that there is a dreadful event going on (“Funeral”) from this bizarre, dramatic statement
“And Mourners to and fro,” – pace is slightly quicker due to absence of dashes in first two lines
“Kept treading – treading – … ” – sense of continuous movement: verb – as though it is happening in the poet’s mind – the sensation felt by the poet – repetition of the ‘heavy’ verb to emphasise the feeling of the weight of the mourners
“… till it seemed / That Sense was breaking through – ” – personification by the use of capitalisation – it seems as though she is on the verge of understanding something – could also be her ability to think rationally was breaking under the mourners feet
The startling imagery used by the poet leaves little room for doubt in the reader – we can hear the sound of the “treading” mourners – combination of sound and sight/vision – sensuous imagery

· Stanza Two:

In this stanza, the poet discusses the funeral service
“And when they were all seated, / A Service, like a Drum – ” – the mourners have now settled down into their seats, but the speaker’s mind has not yet settled
“Kept beating – beating – …” – repetition occurs in the same place in the stanza as in the first stanza – both verbs are very strong and heavy – when reading them, we can almost feel the weight and pressure that they are putting on the speaker’s mind
“… till I thought / My Mind was going numb – ” – there is no peace for the speaker – her mind is going numb from the “beating” and “treading” of the mourners in her head – it is driving her mad/crazy

· Stanza Three:

The burial is described in the third stanza
“And then I heard them lift a Box / And creak across my Soul” – sensuous language, sounds – we know the speaker means coffin by saying “Box” – onomatopoeia: “creak”
“With those same Boots of Lead, again” – image of heavy boots making the floorboards of her mind creak under their weight – shows the mounting pressure within the speaker’s head
“Then Space – began to toll” – bell is associated with the coffin leaving the church

· Stanza Four:

Poet changes in the final two stanzas – changes into the surreal – speaker seems to be completely disorientated – there is little logic to the description of events
“As all the Heavens were a Bell, / And Being, but an Ear” – strange images and metaphors – she is in such a place that all she hears are the sounds of the “Bell” – this sounds are the only things that exist in her mind – all her other senses are failing her in this moment
“And I, and Silence, some strange Race” – silence is the opposite of being surrounded by sounds, as she claims to be in the previous line – on one level this doesn’t make sense as this woman feels so desperately consumed by a sound that she is completely alone – this is the opposite of being enveloped by sound – contradiction
“Wrecked, solitary, here – ” – there is an awareness that she is not normal in the word “wrecked” – she is completely worn out, broken – this thing going through her head has completely broken her down – the poet and silence are removed from the ear, and she is broken and alone

· Stanza Five:

“And then a Plank in Reason, broke” – this “Plank in Reason” refers to the tenuous hold that she had on reason, as it finally snaps – “And then” signifies that we are coming to the end, possibly an end to her torment?
“And I dropped down, and down – / And hit a World, at every plunge” – repetition – sense of helplessness – she hits an alien world, where “World” could refer to memories or feelings
“And Finished knowing – then – ” – poem ends abruptly, like death – leaves us wondering what might follow – clear uncertainty
The speaker plummeted down and finished knowing that she lost consciousness or died – ceased being able to know anything at all
We think she will come back around at the end, back to sanity, but we are left uncertain as to what will happen to her
The final “then” may be a hint at something to follow – something else happened after she lost consciousness which the poet in unable to relate to us because she is no longer in control of her faculties
Her torment may be over, but she is not in a good place
Whatever fragile link she had with the rational world is now severed
Vividly imagined physical death or plunging into dark abyss of insanity
Poet uses bizarre imagery to suggest a person rapidly losing touch with reality and sliding into insanity

Themes

· Mental anguish

Poem can be read as mental collapse/descent into madness – from “Sense” to collapse of a “Plank in Reason”
Poem documents terrible mental suffering – speaker appears constricted and helpless; confined and no longer in control of what is happening to her
The speaker’s apparent awareness of the fact that she is experiencing a breakdown, and is unable to stop it, is distressing for the reader

	Created by Aoibheann Tighe about 8 years ago

Leaving Certificate English (Poetry) Note on Emily Dickinson, created by Aoibheann Tighe on 22/05/2016.