"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" is a poem in whichDickinson attempts to render into formal poetic language the experience of a mind facing its own collapse; the opening stanza presents the metaphor of a funeral that is used throughout the poem to convey the sense of this breakdown to the reader. Brain here refers to both the concrete physical organ and to the abstract idea of the speaker's mind; such dual meanings are used throughout the poem to convey the physical and mental effects of the breakdown. Losing one's reason is like a funeral: the final interment and burial of rational thought. The mourners can be read as symbols of the events or ideas that bring on the speaker's collapse; such events or ideas are incessant (they keep "treading—treading") and continue.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 1,067 words. This
study guide contains 9,905 words (approx. 33 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our I felt a Funeral, in my Brain Access Pass.
