"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" by: Emily Dickinson

To me, this poem (like most) was exceptionally difficult to comprehend. I have always found ambiguous writing confusing because it is hard to decide what another person was thinking when the wrote something if they don't directly tell you. I picked up on the comparisons to a funeral right away because these were easy to see (or hear since there was not any sight in the imagery). In the first stanza, I saw mourners processing through a church to the front. Next, I heard the mourners sitting down and waiting in the second stanza. In the third, I heard a casket being carried down the aisle in the church slowly and steadily. I then heard bells ringing; possibly during the funeral service. Finally, I heard the casket being lowered into the ground to its final resting place.

While these comparisons were understandable to me, the symbolism of it was only clear as mud. I had no idea where to even start. During class discussions I was given the idea that it is a mental breakdown which I now see. This became clear to me when on the 17th line the speaker says, "Plank in Reason, broke." To me, this sounds like a person who has finally lost all control and went insane.