I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, 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 down - And hit a World, at every plunge, And Finished knowing - then -
VOCABULARY
Mourners- people who grieve because of death 1 / 2
Treading -stepping on something Sense- reason, logical thinking Service -an event held for an important function,such as a funeral Lead- a dull, heavy metal Being -the state of existence Toll -ring out, as in the sound of a bell Wrecked-tobedestroyedordamaged,awordoftenusedtodescribeashipthat has washed up on shore after being damaged by a storm Reason -the mind’s capacity to be logical and rational
STORY/SUMMARY
Stanza1:Inmyhead,itfeltlikeaFuneralwashappening-mournerswerewalking
backwardsandforwardsalloverit,untilitseemedthatmymindstartedtomakesense of it all.
Stanza2:Whenthemournersfinallysatdownandstoppedwalking,afuneralservice
began-itwasbeating,beating,likeadrumuntilIthoughtthatmymindwasgoing numb.
Stanza3:AndthenIheardthemliftupabox,whichcreakedacrossmysoul,withthe
sameheavybootsmadeoutoflead,theuniversebegantomakeaheavyringing sound.
Stanza4:Itwasasifthewholeoftheheavensandskywereabell,andourexistence
wasjustanear,asifIwasdestroyedbythesoundandabandonedonadistantshore, along with Silence - a strange, foreign entity thatwas wrecked along with me there.
Stanza5:Andthenaplanksnappedinmymind,asifitlostitsabilitytoreasonand
thinkrationally,andIfelldownanddown-hittingdifferentworldsateverystepofthe way as I was falling - and when I finished I finallyknew.
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