I felt a funeral in my brain

I felt a funeral in my brain - Emily Dickinson

This is a dark and disturbing poem, an allegorical account of the author going insane: 

"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,
        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—"

 

 The poem was written by Emily Dickinson, a famous American poet, who's works often deal with death. And yet, in this case the poem isn't necessarily about the death of a person. Rather it's about the death of a part of them, in this case, her mind. She writes of a funeral in her brain, essentially recognizing its death, and of mourners treading, until it seemed that sense had broken through-perhaps that her head hurt, until she realized what was happening. To me this poem is almost like a dream, or rather, a nightmare. I find it hard to believe that a person could be consciously aware of such things taking place in real time, it is  far more likely that this would be going on while they were asleep. A pattern which we can observe while analyzing this poem is the poet's slow, but visible loss of rationality and clarity as the poem progresses through to the last stanza. We go from the fist, which while odd, and disturbing, is still fairly comprehensible, to the last: "And then a plank in reason, broke,

        And I dropped down and down--
And hit a world at every plunge,
        And finished knowing--then—"

 which sounds like a psychedelic trip. However, seeing as how LSD was not available in the 1800s, we must assume that the poet was "sober", so to speak  when she wrote the poem. Interestingly, the thing that this  last stanza reminds me the most of is falling of a platform or such in a video game, and falling through the fabric of the game world itself, through to the blue or black void beneath the map. Depending on the game, it can be a rather surreal experience. Wait, was I getting a little zoned out there? Yes. Yes, I was. Anyhow, on to the use of poetic devices in the poem: The poem maintains a regular rhyme structure, with every other line rhyming. Personification is also rampant, with the poet's consciousness becoming mourners, and such. As, I mentioned at the beginning  the poem is an allegory, which is essentially a big metaphor.  We also see the use of smaller metaphors, for example: In the last line, where the person falls after the plank breaks, and stops knowing - This is a metaphor for the poet either loosing what they think to be consciousness, or having their brain shut down, and loosing the ability to function  becoming brain dead. As well, things like:"As all the heavens were a bell" .   Finally, we see the use of simile: ''A service like a drum".

Overall, an interesting poem, but very creepy.