Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson wrote many of her poems in first person point of view.
The speaker of a poem is not necessarily the poet. Sometimes a poet will create a persona, or a fictitious speaker, and this speaker may not always be human.
A speaker may be an animal or an abstract object, and good poems have been written from perspectives as various as a hawk, a clock, or a cloud.
As you have seen in many other works, authors use figurative languagewords or phrases that don't mean what they seem to mean. to help readers imagine the events and emotions described in a work of literature.
Imagerylanguage that appeals to the senses helps create a vivid experience for the reader. Whereas personification a figure of speech in which a thing, animal, or abstract term (truth, death, the past) takes on human qualities allows the figurative image to come alive.
To comprehend Emily Dickinson's poetry, readers must understand the importance of figurative language as a way to suggest what cannot be literally stated.
Figurative Language
Look at the first line of the poems below. Do you notice anything similar?
"Death is a Dialogue between"
"Doom is the house without the door"
"Exhilaration is the breeze"
"Experience is the angled Road"
"Faith is the pierless Bridge"
"Fame is a bee"
"Grief is a Mouse"
"Hope is the things with feathers"
"Paradise is that old Mansion"Each line uses personification to enhance the meaning of the abstract word, which provides a picture for the reader. Dickinson also used these extended metaphors throughout her poem to develop the idea.
Emily Dickinson
Dickinson found great joy in exploring the mysteries of nature, and some of her poems read like riddles. A concise and complex poem like the one below forces the reader to slow down and consider each word and image. What is the poem describing?
A Route of Evanescencethe event of fading and gradually vanishing from sight. ,
With a revolving Wheel -
A Resonanceintensification and prolongation of sound, especially of a musical tone of Emerald
A Rush of Cochineal a vivid red; a scarlet dye -
And every Blossom on the Bush
Adjusts it's tumbled Head - *
The Mail from Tunisthe capital of Tunisia on the norther coast of Africa - probably,
An easy Morning's Ride -
*The incorrect apostrophe in line six is in Dickinson's manuscript.
"I felt a Funeral in my Brain"
Read the poem. Find a definition of the meaning of the italicized words.
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 tollAs 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 - -
Look at the following lines more closely. How do these words and phrases contribute to the overall meaning of the poem?
- "I felt a Funeral in my Brain"The speaker feels the funeral is happening in his or her brain, not in real life.
- "my mind was going numb"The speaker's mind feels numb because of the loud and continued beating of a drum during the service.
- "And creak across my Soul" The speaker's soul is also affected by the funeral in hes or her brain. The mouners are wearing boots that walk or linger on the soul.
- "Wrecked, solitary, here" The speaker feels alone and damaged because of the beating of the drum and the treading of the mourners.
- "And I dropped down, and down"The speaker is falling down into an unknown space away from reason.
Stanza 1
Read stanza one again.
IThe first person pronoun "I" suggests first person point of view. felt a funeral in my brain,And mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treading, till it seemed
That sense was breaking through.
Which pronoun allows you to know the point of view of the poem.
What are the mourners doing at the funeral?
Answer: The mourners are pacing or walking back and forth. They are grieving over a death at a funeral.
Stanza 2
Read stanza two again.
And when they all were seated,
A service like a drum
Kept beating, beating, till I thought
My mind was going numb.
What is happening to the speaker's mind and why?
Answer: The speaker's mind is going numb because of the "beating" of the drums during the service.
Stanza 3
Read stanza three again
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
What do you think the "box" contains?
- A dead bodyThis is a metaphor, so a real body would not be in the box.
- A part of the speaker's brainThe brain isn't literally in the box.
- The speaker's reasonThe speaker's reason would be the best answer.
To what is the speaker comparing "space" and "the heavens"?
- A bell
- A funderal
- A box
Answer: A bell
Stanza 4
Read stanza four again.
As all the heavens were a bell,
And Being but an ear,
And I and silence some strange race,
Wrecked, solitary, here.
What is the relationship of the speaker to "silence"?
Answer: They are both "some strange race."
What does the speaker mean by "race"?
Answer: The speaker and silence are from the same group; they are both strange.
Why do you think "here" is in the last line?
Answer: The location may be in the speaker's brain or his mind. The speaker is alone inside.
Stanza 5
Read stanza 5 again.
And then a Plank in Reason, broke
And I dropped down, and down-
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing- then- -
What is a "Plank"?
Answer: A plank is a wooden board.
Why is the "Plank in Reason"?
Answer: "Reason" may be what has been supporting the speaker.
Where does the speaker fall?
Answer: The Speaker falls into the coffin because the plank broke, so her reason is dead.
Summary
Summarize the poem.
Answer: The speaker begins by feeling a funeral in his brain, but then his brain becomes numb. He is buried in the "box" and hears the bell of the heavens and space. He feels broken and alone like he is losing his mind. Dickinson incorporates the uses of imagery through sound with words like "beating," "crack," and "toll"; through feeling like "felt," "numb," and wrecked." The metaphor using "Funderal" represents the speaker's break from "sense" and "reason." the "funeral" is the death of his mind.
Image
Select the image that best represents the poem.
Answer: the coffin
Quine, Thomas. Royal Coffin, 2009. Image. flickr. Web. 10 April 2015. https://www.flicker.com/photos/quinet/5359316531/