Critical Appreciation of I Felt a Funeral in My Brain

 

Critical Appreciation of I Felt a Funeral in My Brain

One of the most popular poem by Emily Dickinson is  I Felt a Funeral in My Brain. This poem is a death poem by this American female poet. As this is a popular poem and it has academic study, students loves to know about the summary and critical appreciation of  I Felt a Funeral in My Brain. We will discuss everything in this article about this poem. Our discussion will contain summary of  I Felt a Funeral in My Brain and Critical appreciation of  I Felt a Funeral in My Brain. Let's see more here.

Summary of I Felt a Funeral in My Brain

The poet felt that a funeral ceremony was taking place in her brain. The mourners kept treading to and fro. The threading of the mourners disturbed her brain so much that the sense seemed to break down or collapse. When the mourners were seated, a drum-like service was beating repeatedly, and being oppressed by the sound, her mind was going numb. 

She then heard them lift a box (the coffin with the dead body); the lifting made a creaking sound across the mind (or brain) of the poet. The persons who lifted the coffin were wearing boots of lead which contributed to the creaking sound. Then the space, all the heavens, seemed to be one bell tolling on a cosmic level. 

She became all ear, that is, conscious of hearing the cosmic bell’s tolling. Then she became a part of the silence of the race of the dead people. Then she felt she could no more think, her power of reasoning broke down, and she continued falling down and down, and hit a world, another form of existence, and her consciousness of the earthly existence was completely lost. Then she did not know what would happen next. 

Critical Appreciation of I Felt a Funeral in My Brain

It is one of the most difficult poems of Dickinson. The poet has expressed her feelings of a dead person in abstruse metaphors—the gradual loss of consciousness of the earthly life, and merging into another world, an eternal world. The imaginary dead person is perhaps the poet herself. 

The poet felt a funeral taking place in her brain. The threading of the mourners Walking to and fro, grated upon her nerves so that her senses seemed to break down or collapse. When the mourners were seated, the sound of drums made her mind numb. The creaking sound _ was made by the lifting of the coffin by the fead-booted mourners. Then she became all ear, hearing the sound of bell which was tolling 

throughout the universe. She then became a part of the race of silent people (dead people). She felt she could no longer think, for her reasoning broke down. She continued falling down, and hitting another world, and her consciousness of the earthly existence was completely lost. Then she did not know what would happen next. 

The theme of the poem is the gradual loss of consciousness for a dying man, of the earthly life, and merging into another world, an eternal world. 

The poem can be studied as one of allegorical significance. Itisa keen portrayal of death. It contains a detailed account of a complete funeral as felt through the ebbing sensations of a dying person. The poem borders on the morbid in portraying the terrible struggle that a dying person is imagined to undergo. Though the end suggests the poet’s transferring from this world to an infinite or eternal world, there is no indication of her life in that eternal world. 

The poem consists of five stanzas, each of four lines. Prosodic measures are irregular, some of the lines are iambic tetrameters, and some other lines are iambic tetrameters. For example, in the following lines, 

I félt/ a fi/neral, in/ my brain 

And m6éurn/ers td6/ and fré the first line is iambic tetrameter, and the second line is iambic trimeter. But all the lines are not of the same regularity; there are many variations. Of course the rhyme-scheme of all the five stanzas is the same : abcb 

The sound devices are also remarkable. We get the use of alliteration in the following expressions: 

And then a plank in reason broke. 

The repetition of the ‘n’ sound in ‘And’, ‘then’, ‘plank’, ‘in’ and ‘reason’ creates an impressive alliteration. Some words are repeated, creating an effect of grating on the nerves of the dying person. 

For example, the repeating of the word ‘treading’ in the first stanza, and of the word ‘down’ in the final stanza, creates a harsh sound which proves grating on the nerves. The repetitions of “treating” and “beating” in the phrases “kept treading-treading” and “kept beating beating” respectively in the first and second stanzas create an onomatopoeic effect intensifying the funeral atmosphere of the poem.

The rhetorical figure of hyperbole contained in “All the heavens were a Bell” heightens the cosmic depth of the funeral scenario. Metaphor predominates among the other figures of speech used in the poem.  The organization of the thought content of the poem is sensible. The consciousness of the dying person gradually sinks, and is ultimately lost. 

All these devices make this poem a successful one. Dickinson’s poetic art is really great. That was all about the critical appreciation of the poem I Felt a Funeral in My Brain by Emily Dickinson. I hope this writing helps you a lot. Thanks for reading from us.