Explication of Emily Dickinson's I Felt a Funeral in My Brain

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Explication of Emily Dickinson's "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain"

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In the poem "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain" Emily Dickinson exposes a person's intense anguish and suffering as they sink into a state of extreme madness. The poem is a carefully constructed analysis of the speaker's own mental experience. Dickinson uses the image of a funeral-service to symbolize the death of the speaker's sanity. The poem is terrifying for the reader as it depicts a realization of the collapse of one's mental stability, which is horrifying for most. The reader experiences the horror of the speaker's descending madness as the speaker's mind disintegrates and loses its grasp on reality. "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain," by Emily Dickinson creates an illusion of a mind becoming unstable by expressing the speaker's pain, describing her irrationality, and the speaker tragically ending her existence.

The first major reason that "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain" creates an illusion of a mind becoming unstable is by expressing the speaker's pain. It is obvious through the first and second stanza that the speaker is aware that she is losing her sense of stability. The speaker is fighting to keep her sanity as the pressure of her "sense was breaking through" (line 4). The "Mourners" that are "treading - treading" represent the pain that she is feeling while battling her fight to keep her mental state (line 2-3). The repetition of the word "treading - treading" only emphasizes the fact that she is losing her battle and it has become apparent to her (line 3). Finally, she gives up her fight, which is why "they were all seated," indicating that she is accepting that her sanity is leaving her. Her sanity...

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...mind will be peaceful once more as it has all of eternity to rest.

In conclusion, "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain," by Emily Dickinson creates an illusion of a mind becoming unstable by expressing the speaker's pain, describing her irrationality, and the speaker tragically ending her existence. Throughout the poem, the speaker's feelings of grief and pain are evident. As a result of her pain and grief, it becomes obvious that the speaker must choose between a state of madness or a state of solitude. Due to her irrational state of mind, the speaker chooses to commit suicide as she feels that it is the only method for her to control her own destiny. The poem truly expresses a person's loss of connection with reality. The poem not only gives an intense examination of insanity, but it also reflects a person's soul as it moves towards its final breakdown.

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