“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” Summary

“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” Themes

• 

  Madness

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• 

  The Nature of Despair

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• 

  The Irrational Universe

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”

• Line 1

  I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 2-3

  And Mourners to and fro
  Kept treading - treading -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  till it seemed
  That Sense was breaking through -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-7

  And when they all were seated,
  A Service, like a Drum -
  Kept beating - beating -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-8

  till I thought
  My mind was going numb -

  

  

  

  

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• Line 9

  And then I heard them lift a Box

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 10-12

  And creak across my Soul
  With those same Boots of Lead, again,
  Then Space - began to toll,

  

  

  

  

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• Line 13

  As all the Heavens were a Bell,

  

  

  

  

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• Line 14

  And Being, but an Ear,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-16

  And I, and Silence, some strange Race
  Wrecked, solitary, here -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-18

  And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
  And I dropped down, and down -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-20

  And hit a World, at every plunge,
  And Finished knowing - then -

  

  

  

  

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“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” Symbols

• 

  Mourners

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• 

  Box

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“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Conceit

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Epizeuxis

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Polysyndeton

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Stream of Consciousness

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Antithesis

  

  

  

  

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“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Mourners
• Treading
• Sense
• Service
• Box
• Space
• Toll
• Heavens
• Being
• Race
• Wrecked
• Plank
• Reason
• World
• Plunge
• Knowing

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” Speaker

“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”

More “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” Resources

• External Resources

  • Biography of Dickinson — An extensive biography of Dickinson on the Poetry Foundation website.

  • Emily Dickinson Museum — Biographical information on Dickinson and other resources from the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA.

  • Visual Interpretation of the Poem — An attempt to visualize the poem through stop-motion illustrations on a white board.

  • Dickinson's Original Manuscript — Photos of Dickinson's original handwritten manuscript, followed by scholarly excerpts about the poem.

  • A Reading of the Poem — A recitation of Dickinson's poem from Poetry Out Loud.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!