Trapped- "I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain"

    The most important part of "I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain" by Emily Dickinson is the point of view from which the poem is written. The speaker is the honorary member of the funeral- the person who has passed. She describes the funeral and burial from the vantage point of the coffin. There is also a clear tone of desperation as she is clenching to life while she begins to lose her mind. "Keep beating-beating-till I thought My Mind was going numb-" (Dickinson 776). She is fighting to hold on, to whatever is left of her. What really creates this amazing imagery, however, is the many senses the speaker uses to describe her surroundings. She feels the presence of the mourners, hears the sounds of the service and feet of the men that will take the coffin away, and feels the dropping of her coffin at the burial. We can get a much better sense of the alienation she is feeling as she knows everyone that once knew her is saying their goodbyes. Trapped inside a coffin, going crazy, all alone- what an image for the mind to ponder.