Study Guide by Arpita Karwa

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain   by Walt Whitman

"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" was written by Emily Dickinson.

The poet thinks that his/her mind is being subjected to a funeral service. It feels like those
at the funeral are going back and forth in the poet’s head. The poet is thinking that the
surface they are walking on will break from the pressure and then fall out from the new hole
created in the poet’s mind. The attendees are finally seated for the service which has no
utterance of words. There is only a drum-like noise repeating itself. This noise is so strong,
it numbs the poet and makes him thoughtless.

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The service ends and the procession begins. The coffin is being lifted and carried by the
mourners, who are walking across the poet’s soul, which breaks like old wooden flooring.
Because all the attendees are wearing heavy lead boots, their walking is causing a strain to the speaker’s mind. All of a

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sudden, the sound of bell ringing can be heard and it is not coming from one source but the whole world at large.

The sky too is ringing like a bell. People live only to listen to the bells ringing. The poet’s mind is numb and he/she
doesn’t feel like human anymore but some other unusual creature. Except for the poet, there is no one else in the poet’s
mind or body; the poet feels shipwrecked in there.
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In the last stanza, a floorboard (metaphor) breaks inside the poet’s head — this creates a hole which makes the poet sink
further down and then even further. In that process of falling, the poet aligns with all the worlds until the point when
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the poet’s mind becomes dysfunctional. The poet doesn’t tell us what happens after that state.
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