I felt a Funeral, in my Brain - Analysis

What you are going to read in this blog is my take on analyzing the theme behind I felt a Funeral, in my Brain by Emily Dickinson. This is apart of the literature grade 9 collection. We were to read through the entire poem, figure out what the theme behind it is, and show how we came to that conclusion. If you haven't read nor heard about I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, I suggest you go and read it first then comeback here. You can find the poem right here.

Now, let's not beat around the bush and get right into it!

The first step in analysis of a poem is looking at the point of view of the speaker, while also considering the historical period in which they lived. In I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, the speaker can be considered as a person who is living in their last minutes on this world and is flashing into the future where a funeral occurring. On the 9th and 18th line, he/she stated that he/she “heard them lift a Box”, and felt that he/she “dropped down, and down”. These two lines indicates a perfect replica of what a dead soul would feel in their last minutes in the over world; they would hear the coffin being raised and being dropped down into the hole. He/ she also felt the sense of falling, this could mean that their soul is being reaped out of his/her body. In summary, the speaker in this poem is in their last minutes or seconds of their life.

To grasp the central idea of a poem, one must then look closely at the literary devices used. One of the most seen and key literary devices used throughout the poem is imagery. On the 3rd and 4th line, the author or speaker describe the feeling of sadness and mourners reeling in towards him/her. This shows the use of imagery that we need to imagine and create while reading, the sense of depression and sadness trying to come to us. The second literary device that is used to represent the theme is metaphors. On the 13th and 14th line, 2 metaphors are used; the first one indirectly compares heaven with a bell; and the second compares a being to an ear. These two metaphors vividly show the idea of an afterlife, speaking about he/she hearing the bell of heaven. These two literary devices points out a dark, but on the other hand also a light tone; speaking about the end of our life and the bright light of heaven. Therefore, the theme of this poem is about the process and feeling of getting into the afterlife.

Finally, one must look at the poem’s style. In I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, Emily uses some rather average, complex, and bouncy syntax’s. Through the entire poem, only an average of 6 to 7 words per stanza, this is relatively low if you compare it to the word count of the entire poem. This shows and symbolizes how our life is short. On the other hand, the entire poem, especially on the 2nd and 3rd stanza, contains many punctuations including capital letters, commas, and hyphens. This displays the complexity of our life and how we wouldn't know the truth or answer to it. Additionally, on the 15th line, “And I, and Silence, some strange Race”, the author uses alliteration. This shows all the fun and happy moments of our life. In conclusion, this poem syntaxes represents all the aspects of life: it’s short, complex, and fun.