Analysis
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 - |
Emily Dickinson uses symbolism throughout her poem “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” in order to present the idea that helplessness accompanies one’s descent into madness and accentuates the loss of self. In stanza one of Dickinson’s poem the speaker laments “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, / And Mourners to and fro / Kept treading - treading” (1-3). The funeral of the speaker’s mind represents the loss of sanity and the mourners symbolize the pain associated with the loss. The fact that the speaker is aware of the funeral is significant because they are helpless to act in the face of the persistent pain, as represented by the “treading – treading” of the mourners. To further show the descent of one’s sanity the speaker illustrates “And then I heard them lift a Box / And creak across my Soul / With those same Boots of Lead, again,” (9-11). In the process of both experiencing and observing the symbolic funeral, the speaker is helpless to avert the burial of their rationality and the constant pain of that loss is amplified by the mourners. The speaker continues with the idea of the helplessness of insanity by expressing that, “And then a Plank of Reason, broke, / And I dropped down, and down,” (17-18). A delicate plank of reason is already a dangerous place to be, and what little sanity one had left is now gone for the plank broke. By the extent of symbolism, the speaker is explaining that one’s sanity has given way and they are left to plummet into madness. Dickinson uses various symbols throughout her poem in order to show how one is powerless in the face of insanity, but also how the awareness of that loss makes it all the more painful.
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Mourners of a funeral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oHTdJsXvpg (Link if video does not load)