Alienation Unit- Poem One

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

By: Emily Dickinson

"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (Page 776)." This powerful opening statement of Emily Dickinson's poem serves not only as an introduction which establishes the theme of the piece, but also as the chosen title of the work. This power implies the importance of the statement as an extended metaphor used throughout the duration of the piece. In representing the loss of one's sanity and mind control, the imagery of a funeral is used. 

Throughout the poem, imagery is used to form an extended metaphor of the speaker's mental state deterioration. Additionally, the poem invokes every sense but taste and smell through the imagery and metaphor of the funeral. Elements such as the description of mourners, the funeral service, the casket, and the final burial invoke imagery and the senses of a "beating" headache and "numb" disconnection from sanity and life.  The poem follows the progression of a funeral in connection to the deterioration of one's consciousness from the slow beginning to the abrupt end when the casket reaches the bottom of a grave and the speaker  loses connection to reality. Additionally, the speaker progresses from a crowd and raging mind to the solidarity of one's own confronting yet dying thoughts. Thus, from living thoughts the mind marches on to its own funeral.