I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

A detailed Summary of I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

Life, death, and reincarnation are portrayed in Emily Dickinson's poem "I felt a Funeral, in my brain". The use of words associated with death gives the poem an ominous and dark karma. At the beginning of this poem the feelings of grief and pain are evident. Throughout the rest of the poem, there is a strong sense that the speaker needs to make a choice between a world full of trouble and pain or a heaven that brings solitude and peace. This is all part of a vicious cycle. Sometimes when life doesn't turn out for the best, you need to wait until your cycle is up. This is reflected clearly at the end of the poem. The speaker lives life, passes away, and is reborn again into this world all throughout this poems' entirety.

The first two words of this poem reveal strong feelings. The words "I felt" show that the speaker is talking about themselves. The line "I felt a funeral, in my brain" brings to mind death. The word ?funeral? combined with "brain" can be simplified into the fact that death is inside the speaker. "And mourners to and fro/Kept treading -treading- till it seemed/That sense was breaking through." Here, the speaker is bothered by their inner death that keeps mourning over and over t

In the last stanza the solitude breaks, and all that was once good is dropping, as if this was the wrong choice. This is seen in the line "And then a Plank in Reason, broke,". If "Reason" is a deck made of wood containing many planks, then if a " Plank" was to break you would fall. This would reflect the next line "And I dropped down, and down-And hit a World,." Here is where the speaker falls through the deck or, "Reason" occurs. The speaker drops from Heavens and continues dropping. The emphasis (repetition) on dropping down is to show how far heaven is away, and how far the speaker actually was before falling. This brings him back to reality, back to the world were life begins and ends. The words chosen for the line "at every plunge," show the repetition of falling, restarting the cycle of life. The line "And Finished Knowing -then-" describes reincarnation. Once the speaker "lands" back on earth, the speaker starts a new life. "Finished" fits well at the end of this poem because not only is the poem over, but it signifies the end of life and the start of a new one. The lines separating "then" at the very end make it seem as though the words are fading away as did the thoughts of the speaker from the past life.

hroughout their head. The marks between "treading -treading-" allow a pause between the two words, inducing a long, repetitive treading. This repetition causes irritation. Finally, "sense was breaking through". This simply means that the constant repetition is now starting to make sense. A feeling of relief has s

Some common words found in the essay are:
Emily Dickinson's, Finished Knowing, Plank Reason, Brain Life, life death, treading -treading-, cycle life, funeral brain, vicious cycle, speaker hears, boots lead, race wrecked, beating -beating-, sense breaking,

Approximate Word count = 1034
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Music