I Felt a Funeral in my Brain
Poetry
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Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral in my Brain Poem
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
By Emily Dickinson
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,
Th...
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I Felt a Funeral in my Brain Summary
Poem Analysis:
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading - treading - till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through -
Explanation: The speaker feels like a funeral is happening inside her brain. She imagines people (mourners) walking back and forth. They keep walking again and again. It feels so heavy and painful that her mind is about to break.
And when they all wer...
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I Felt a Funeral in my Brain Key Info
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...
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I Felt a Funeral in my Brain Theme
Themes
Madness: The poem shows the speaker slowly going mad. The funeral image represents reason and sanity breaking. Mourners’ steps and drumbeats repeat without ending. This shows mental pain that never truly stops. The metaphor shows the speaker losing mind slowly.
Despair: Despair appears as a heavy and dark force. The funeral shows hope and reason fully dying. Leaden footsteps symbolize the u...
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Notes
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