An Analysis on One of Emily Dickinson’s Death Poems — I Felt a Funeral in My Brain

【Abstract】： Emily Dickinson is a famous poet， who was parallel with Walt Whitman. She wrote more than eighteen hundred poems all her life， among which over six hundred poems concerning about death theme. This paper mainly aims to analyze how she described her feeling and emotions in a poem， taking I Felt a Funeral in My Brain for example.

【Key words】： Emily Dickinson， death poem

Introduction

The first time she experienced death was the death of her 13-year old girl neighbor. In the beginning， the girl was sick in bed， as a good friend， Emily often visited her. When the girl was lay dying， Dickinson insisted on looking after the girl and witnessed the process of dying， disregarded the warning from her parents and doctor. This experience had a significant influence on her， after which she kept imagining she was lying in the coffin， experiencing or recalling the moment she died， and then she created “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain”.

The Analysis of I Felt a Funeral in My Brain

Her witness of the drying of her intimate neighbor made her think a lot about death and she expressed it in her poem “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain”. The description of death is unique， the using of images is bold， and all of these are related to the experience of her childhood.

We saw it as a dramatically transferring from mental anguish to psychic disintegration and a final sinking into a protective numbness like the poem portrayed in “After great pain.” In “After great pain，” the funeral parts were subordinate to a scene of mental suffering. This funeral was a symbol of miserable suffering which threatens to destroy the speaker’s life but at last destroyed only her present， intolerable consciousness. The poem had no hints about the reasons for her suffering， although her self-torment seems stronger than in “After great pain.” The phrase “breaking down” in the fourth lines was especially difficult， in regard to mental phenomena， usually refers to something becoming clear， a manifestation which did not fit the rest of the poem. If “sense” was taken as paralleling the “plank in reason” which later broke， then “breaking through” can mean to collapse or shatter. The strongly enough represented self-accusation by the formal and treading mourners probably drive the speaker towards madness. But she was slow in getting there. The service continued， the coffin-like box embodying the death of the accused self that could not endure torment any more. Now the whole universe was like a church， with its heaven a bell. Unable to run away from her terrifying consciousness， she felt as if only she and the universe existed. All sounds poured into her silence. This was a kind of state close to madness， a loss of self that came when one's links with people and nature felt broken， and individuality became a burden.

At last， the desired numbness arrives. Reason， the ability to think and know broke down， and she plunged into an abyss. The evidence that she lived in this world was disappearing and what she owned now burden her with pain. Then she lost consciousness and was presumably in some kind of peace. The poem’s regular rhythms functioned well with the insistent ritual， and the repeated trochaic words “treading — treading” and “beating — beating” opposed the iambic meter， adding a rocking quality.

Conclusion

A large number of critics proved that “I felt a Funeral， in my Brain” talked about death. Her description about death is unparallel in the circle of literature. And from the analysis of this paper， we have a better understanding of her feeling expression and writing styles.

Reference

Taggard， G. The Life and Mind of Emily Dickinson [M].N. Y.： Knopf， 1930.

江楓. 狄金森名詩選[M].西安：太白文藝出版社，1996.

劉曉暉. 百年艾米莉·狄金森研究管窺，外國文學[J].2001年第1期.