I felt a Funeral in My Brain by Emily Dickinson and Gloomy Metaphors

Emily Dickinson is known for her deeply introspective poetry as a haunting exploration of the human mind and human psyche in the moments of tumults. This poem delves into themes of mortality, existentialist crisis, and mental state. Through the use of the significant impact of powerful metaphors, Dickinson creates a vivid description of the mind and human psyche. To convey themes of mental breakdown, existential angst, and the relentless march of mortality. By unraveling the layers of metaphor within this evocative poem, it will uncover the profound inner vision it offers into the delicate nature of the human condition and the relentless pursuit of meaning amidst the tumult of existence. 

The poem begins with a declaration “I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain”. This opening line sets the tone for the rest of the poem. Dickinson utilizes the metaphor of a funeral procession occurring in the speaker’s mental faculties. The solemnity associated with the funerals evokes a sense of profound loss and mourning suggesting that something vital has been lost within the life of the speaker's individuality. Throughout the poem, Dickinson employs a series of vivid and unsettling images to depict the unraveling of the speaker’s psyche. She describes the mourners as “treading-treading”, their footsteps echoing within the confines of the speaker’s mind. The image of relentless, repetitive motion conveys a sense of suffocation. Dickinson’s use of metaphor extends beyond the funeral procession, it encompasses the very fabric of the speaker’s consciousness. She uses the “toll” to describe a sensation. It also suggests a blurring of the thin line between inner and outer reality. The “toll” is used as a connotation adding to the funeral atmosphere that permeates the poem. 

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading - treading - till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through -

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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,

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Ultimately, Dickinson’s metaphors in “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain” serve to the profound psychological and existential angst experienced by the speaker. Through her usage of vivid imagery and evocative language, Dickinson invites readers to contemplate the fragility of the human mind and the mental decay of the human psyche. By the advance of the funeral procession, Dickinson highlights the speakers inside tumults. The poetic expression of the voice she uses, reflects the inevitable depths of the human experience of life.