Key Facts 

• Author: Emily Dickinson
• Written: 1861
• Published: First published posthumously in 1896
• Poem Type: Lyric poem
• Themes: Death, Madness, Despair, the irrational universe
• Form: Five quatrains (four-line stanzas)
• Rhyme Scheme: Irregular, with a mix of exact and slant rhyme
• Meter: Primarily iambic, but varies throughout the poem
• Tone: Intense, unsettling, and contemplative
• Imagery: Vivid use of funeral imagery to explore the speaker’s internal experiences
• Symbolism: The funeral symbolizes the death of reason or sanity within the speaker’s mind.