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 —

Analysis, meaning and summary of Emily Dickinson's poem I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

24 Comments

  1. dt223 says:

    to me, this poem expresses an invisible existence that Emily was always in-tune with. an almost meta-physical awareness of each separate “world” at every plunge — she had notions of something larger than what was just tangible and visible in the world, long before it was common to theorize about such things. She addresses the significant isolation this leaves her with, as she is obviously much different from those around her, AS WELL AS her constantly referenced struggle with religion in the lines:
    “As all the Heavens were a Bell, and Being but an Ear, and I, and Silence, some strange Race, Wrecked, Solitary, here.” Her concept of God and religion did not fit the mold of the strict lifestyle her family applied to, or that of the beliefs around her — and it was a constant confliction in her soul.
    For others she believe this belief in God or “the Heavens” was so fluid and natural, all they had to do was simply exist or “be” and they could hear the heavenly bells — but she was wrecked alone in a silence where the bells were unheard

  2. muneer odeh says:

    THE SAD EVENT OF AN IMPORTANT FIGURE,S DEATH REMINDS THE POETESS OF THE THE HEREAFTER AND MAKES HER LOSE HER CONCENTRATION AND FILLS HER WITH CONFUSION THAT SHE IS EXTREMELY OBSESSEB BY DEATH.

  3. Ayyub says:

    I tink this poem is about her going insane

  4. Candace says:

    This is a poem about her losing her mind, while still retaining some form of grip on reality. This seems to be the most obvious of themes anyway. She is slowly losing her sanity, and so she feels a “funeral in her brain.” She watches as she slips more and more, until ultimately the Plank in Reason breaks. Her sanity is lost at this point, and she watches its entirety as it occurs.

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