In Emily Dickinson’s poem, “I Felt A Funeral, In My Brain,” she is describing the mental breakdown of her sanity using a funeral as a metaphor and she does this very nicely within this poem.
The first time reading through the poem, it was hard to make of it. The second time reading the poem, it seemed like her soul was witnessing her own funeral. It was not until the poem became clear that Emily Dickinson witnessed the funeral only by the sense of sound and feel. Emily Dickinson used the different stages of the funeral to show the decent of her mental breakdown.In the first stanza, the poem opens with “I felt a Funeral in my Brain,” showing the beginning of the descent into insanity because with the word funeral.
Emily uses “I felt a Funeral... ” and not I felt like a funeral, thus making this seem real because if Emily were to use a simile in this poem about her mind, the use of figurative language would not help in Emily’s poem.Emily sounds like she is trying to convey that there is a funeral going on within her brain.
In the next part of this stanza she stated “Mourners kept treading –treading” into the service of the funeral and “That Sense was breaking through”, it seems that with the mourners are making Emily a little crazy because if someone had a thought of someone walking in their mind, metaphorically, it would make he or she feel unpleasant, giving them a bad headache. Also with the tempo of how she writes, “Kept treading-treading-“ it gives the impression of something that is not enjoy full because of the pauses in between. In the second stanza, the funeral service started all of the “Mourners” are seated and she describes the service “like a Drum”.Emily compares the service to a drum because a normal funeral service would not be associated with drums of any sort. Emily repeats the word “beating” during the duration of the service, the scene can be interpret as a headache of some sort and can be associated with her mind going crazy. In my opionon, if a person were to hear and feel thumping in one’s head, it can be compared like a child beating on someone’s head with a hammer which can make a person go crazy.
It can be seen that her mind has gone insane because in the last line of this stanza, Emily states, “My Mind was going numb”.What also makes this an interesting point is that Emily says that her mind has gone numb but the mind is not a physical thing that one can touch and hold like a brain, which changes the funeral from a psychical experience to a mental experience. In the third stanza, the funeral service is complete and they are lifting the casket or “Box” to be buried, while this was being done, Emily mentions while the mourners are carrying her in the box, “With those same Boots of Lead, again”.This can be related back to the beginning in the first stanza of this poem, treading in her brain making Emily somewhat going insane. Now that it was confirmed that the “Mourners” were wearing “Boots of Lead” the image and feeling of going insane is clearer and how it must have taken a toll on Emily’s head. Now that the box has been carried off to be buried and the funeral service is over, Emily then talks of “Then Space-began to toll,” which can mean that Emily’s mind is stuck in “Space” and in space there is nothing but emptiness.
In the fourth stanza of this poem was the most difficult of all stanza.Emily states the word “Space”, perhaps she meant that “Space” has become heaven but heaven is the toll of a bell. so all that Emily hears is the sound of a bell that keeps ringing. This is another example of how Emily feels like to be insane or become insane because with the toll of a bell in one’s mind, it can make a person go crazy. Also with the tolling of the bell, it can bring back the repetitive sounds that also contributed to the downfall of Emily’s mind, like the treading of the mourners and the comparison of the funeral service to the beatings of a drum in her brain.Next she uses the word “Being”, which means state of existing or having existed.
She then mentions “but an ear” which may mean that Emily’s only reason for existing is only to listen, nothing more. Emily then talks about “Silence” and her belonging to “some strange Race. This could mean that they are part of the same race because like Emily mentioned, Emily’s only existence is to listen. What Emily and silence have in common is that cannot speak at all. In the last line Emily states that they are wrecked and lonely.
What makes this a very interesting line interpret is that Silence cannot talk and Emilys only meaning of existence is to listen. This is a very horrible dilemma where it can make a person go insane and the fact that they are wrecked, it adds more kindle to the fire of insanity. In the fifth and last stanza, Emily talks about “a Plank in Reason, broke”. The plank that Emily is talking about had some descriptions of breaking and creaking earlier in the poem.It is called “Reason”, which people who are still sane can use because with insanity, there is no reasoning what so ever.
This must have meant that this plank was the only thing keeping Emily from really falling into insanity. But now that the plank has broken beneath Emily’s feet, she has finally descended down into insanity. As she keeps falling deeper and deeper into insanity, Emily leaves an open ended line that can be interrupted anyway by just using the word “then,” which ironically can make a reader go a little insane wondering what has become of Emily Dickinson.
