"I Felt a Funeral in My Brain" by Emily Dickinson
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, again,
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 hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing - then –
1.The poem is best described as a
(A) analytical narrative An analytic narrative is a social science research
(B) poetic drama method seeking to combine historical narratives
(C) sober digression with the rigor of rational choice theory.
(D) dramatic monolog
(E) discursive remembrance poetic drama:a play written in verse
sober digression :the act or an instance of leaving
the main subject in an extended written or verbal
expression of thought
dramatic monolog :a poem written as if someone
is speaking to an unseen listener about important
events or thoughts
discursive remembrance :passing aimlessly from
one subject to another; digressive; rambling.
2. The poet makes use of all of the following EXCEPT
(A) parallel clauses
(B) metaphor
(C) irregular use of punctuation
(D) irregular meter
(E) symbolism
3.The situation in the poem most likely refers to
(A) fantastic vision of her own death
(B) frustration and angst over her writer's block
(C) derision of her morbid curiosities
(D) fascination with the afterlife
(E) acknowledgement of her mental breakdown
4. All the following types of imagery are used in the poem EXCEPT
(A) religious
(B) auditory
(C) tactile
(D) nautical
(E) olfactory
5. The poet’s use of simile in the second stanza serves to
(A) reinforce man’s impotence in the face of time
(B) highlight the infinitive quality of traditional religious service
(C) emphasize the oppressive nature of the speaker’s thoughts
(D) call into question the speaker’s final destination
(E) establish the military order of the speaker’s thoughts
6. The meter of the poem might best be described as
(A) cacophonous and grating
(B) perceive and uniform
(C) harmonious and soothing
(D) balanced and upbeat
(E) stately and majestic
7. When examined collectively, many of the capitalized words in the poem share
connotations with
(A) music
(B) death
(C) seafaring
(D) warfare
(E) community
8. The progression of each of the poem’s stanzas mirrors the speaker’s
(A) realization of the world around her
(B) acknowledgment of the futility of ritual
(C) clarity of thought
(D) descent into madness
(E) acceptance of the unknown
9. What is the function of the poem’s final two lines
(A) they represent the speaker’s entrance into the unconscious
(B) they demonstrate the uncertainty of knowledge
(C) they articulate the speaker’s degree of madness
(D) they identify the speaker as an enlightened being
(E) they portray the lost soul of a struggling artist
10. The tone of the poem might be best described as
(A) agitated & bitter = nervous , unpleasant
(B) caustic & cold = sarcastic in a scornful and bitter way
(C) restrained & removed = characterized by reserve or self-control; unemotional
or dispassionate
(D) detached & dispassionate = separate or disconnected
(E) prosaic & gregarious = lacking imaginativeness or originality & sociable
