Alienation: I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

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

In this poem by Emily Dickinson, the speaker is imagining having a funeral in her brain. The speaker cannot see this funeral, only feel it. The speaker describes the people attending the funeral to be wearing "Boots of Lead" (Dickinson, 776). These people are walking and pacing through her brain; this could possible metaphorically represent her being walked all over. Therefore, the speaker may feel that she has been stepped on in her life or used by someone else.

The speaker uses the terms "Brain," "Mind," and "Soul." The capitalization signifies an importance of these words. I think that they signify the physical, intellectual, and spiritual connection she to this funeral. Furthermore, at the end of the poem, the speaker falls down when the "Plank in Reason" broke. The speaker lost her sense of reasoning and the discontinuation of the poem signifies how the speaker is lost now without her sense of reasoning.