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The document presents an analysis of Emily Dickinson's poem "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain". It explores the poem's themes of reason and despair, use of symbolic imagery like mourners and boots of lead, and Dickinson's deployment of poetic devices such as metaphor, personification and alliteration to create a bleak, oppressive tone and mood. The analysis highlights line 18-19 as particularly haunting in its description of the speaker's descent into madness. In summarizing the key points, it effectively conveys the essence of Dickinson's poem and its unsettling depiction of mental breakdown.

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25 views13 pages

Group D

The document presents an analysis of Emily Dickinson's poem "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain". It explores the poem's themes of reason and despair, use of symbolic imagery like mourners and boots of lead, and Dickinson's deployment of poetic devices such as metaphor, personification and alliteration to create a bleak, oppressive tone and mood. The analysis highlights line 18-19 as particularly haunting in its description of the speaker's descent into madness. In summarizing the key points, it effectively conveys the essence of Dickinson's poem and its unsettling depiction of mental breakdown.

Uploaded by

mikasaackermannn23
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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PRESENTATION ON

“ I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”


Layout
TABLE OF CONTENT AND PRESENTERS
About the Poem

▪ Written by Emily Dickinson


▪ Condensed and packed with striking imagery, metaphor
and stunning ideas
▪ Explores the idea of what it would feel like to be
conscious after death
▪ Depicts an unnerving series of events based around a
Emily Dickinson
“Funeral”
TITLE

▪ Used to have no title


▪ Suggest a deeply emotional and profound experience
▪ The word “Funeral” brings mournful atmosphere
▪ “I” indicates that the experience is personal and
subjective
▪ The verb “Felt” suggests the experience is not simply a
thought or idea
ANALYSIS

▪ Death
“I felt a Funeral..” “I dropped down, and down-”
▪ Sense and Reason
“Mourners to and fro” “Kept treading-treading” “creak across my Soul”
▪ Solitude
“And I and Silence, some strange Race” “Wrecked, solitary, here-”
▪ Christian after life
“As all the heavens were a Bell” “a Plank in Reason broke”
▪ Transformation
“And hit a World at every plunge” “Finished knowing-then-”
THEMES

▪ Reason And Sense


(mind as two floor structure – terror and helplessness – “funeral” – “breaking
through” – fragile, distorted and breakable – total absence of rational
awareness)
▪ The Nature of Despair
(depiction of despair – “beating-beating” “treading-treading” – “crack
mournfully” – isolation of self)
▪ The Irrational Universe
(the ability to find order and meaning – “soul” to “space” – universe’s mystery
and complexity)
SYMBOLS

Mourners:
▪ Sadness and loss
▪ Secrecy and mystery
▪ Inaccessible parts of the speaker’s mind

Boots of Lead:
▪ intrusive, repetitive thoughts bring one madness and state of numbness.

Box:
▪ The final closure or end of something
▪ inability to understand what is happing inside oneself
▪ End of speaker’s final thoughts or sanity being taken away
POETIC DEVICES

▪ Simile: “ A Service , like a Drum-” (Line-06)


▪ Metaphor: “As all the Heavens were a Bell, (Line-13)
“Funeral” (Line-01)
▪ Onomatopoeia: “beating- beating-” (Line-07)
“creak” (Line-10)
▪ Personification: “Funeral” ; “Brain” ; “Mourners”
“Drum” ; “Numb” ; “Boots of Lead”
“Bell” ; “Silence”…..
▪ Alliteration: “treading- treading-till” ; “My mind” ; “beating- beating”
TONE AND MOOD

TONE MOOD

• Sadness • Bleak
• Hopelessness • Oppressive
• despair
GOLDEN LINE

“And I dropped down, and down-


And I hit a World, at every plunge,”
(Lines 18-19)

▪ Alliterative
▪ Cacophonic sound
▪ Adds harshness to poem
Conclusion

▪ Haunting poem
▪ vividly captures the experience of mental breakdown
▪ Portrays the intense emotional pain
▪ Uses a funeral as metaphor for speaker’s descent into
madness
▪ Relentless and unstoppable nature of this process
▪ Sensory imagery adds unsettling atmosphere
WORKS CITED

▪ https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/emily-dickinson/i-felt-a-funeral-in-
my-brain
▪ https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/i-felt-
funeral-my-brain#
▪ https://poemanalysis.com/emily-dickinson/i-felt-a-funeral-in-my-
brain/
Any Questions?

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