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.
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.



Angela’s interpretation:

I think this poem is about how Emily see’s her funeral from an outsider looking in. She describes the actions of the people attending and how they are like robots in their movements. She also describes the service sounds such as bells, boots and drums. These sounds, I think, make the service more of a ritual and I do not think she likes it like that. The first two stanzas talk about the people filing in and how they are like children in school in a straight line. It then talks about how they are sitting down and it sounds like a drum beating with their shoes moving across the floor. The third and fourth stanzas talk about the ceremony itself and how they are moving the casket and how the church bells are ringing to conclude the funeral. Emily talks about how the bells hurt her ears and how the boots of the men moving the casket hurts her head as well. I think Emily is really depressed and her thinking about her own funeral is a very morbid thought.


Jenna’s Interpretation…

The first stanza talks about her mind’s own collapse as she feels a total loss of sense and reason. The second stanza talks about her growing fears and the repetition of “beating, beating drums” increases the rhythm. The third stanza talks about a mental breakdown yet she is physically able to still use her senses like hearing the “creaking of the box”. The final stanza has the sounds increasing which shows the increase of her fear and anxiety. The metaphor of the funeral is used to bring a dark, sad tone to the poem. It shows Emily’s sadness and isolation from the world when it says “wrecked, solitary here”. A funeral is the end which shows the finality of her slip into reclusion. A part of herself is dying which coincides to her mental breakdown.