I Felt A Funeral

2 Pages 569 Words

The poem I felt a funeral, in my Brain by Emily Dickinson is a dream about the speaker’s death. This is evident because of the capitalization of brain in the line “I felt a funeral in my Brain,” In the poem the speaker does not only discuss the physical aspects of dying but also the process of mourning. Emily Dickinson herself loved earth and was unsure about letting go of it to move on to heaven. This poem shows the speaker mourning the loss of her connection with earth rather than a person.
The poem follows a traditional New England funeral. The people begin to enter the church for the service. The repetition of the word treading and to and fro gives the reader a repetitive feeling. The repetition of the rhythm of the mourners going back and forth annoys the speaker. The noise of her friends and family alive and her dead and disconnected bothered her. Then they tread “till it seemed/ That Sense was breaking through—“ the capitalizes word sense illustrates the dreamer almost waking up.
In the next stanza the mourners are seated for the service, this line shows that the dreamer has gone back to sleep. The service is described to be like a drum and that is “…beating—beating—till I thought/ My Mind was going numb—“ Again, the repetition and the word numb shows how as they speak about her life the poet is aggravated that she has to leave it behind.
The next stanza the dreamer hears “them lift a Box” the box is capitalized and is used to describe the coffin. Box also sounds more confined than a coffin and the dreamer

is feeling confined from the world. The line “With those same Boots of Lead, again,” is showing that once again she is feeling separated from life. Boots of Lead is a heavier phrase than the others describing the feeling. Dickinson did this because she wanted to show the feeling of solitude becoming stronger as the dreamer is closer to being buried, and separated from life forever.
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