I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain

The 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson is the author of “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” a poem that is considered part of the transcendentalist movement. She wrote the poem around 1861, and, like nearly all of her poems, she didn’t publish it when she was alive. Dickinson led a solitary life in Amherst, Massachusetts, interacting with few people besides select family members and friends. Her isolation has led to speculation about her character and identity: Some suggest she was a victim of sexism, while others argue she was a singular individual who preferred books and imagination to the outside world. The poem showcases Dickinson’s imagination, exploring the process of death and/or deep suffering. The poem argues that to gain knowledge about death or emotional pain, a person has to face it head-on. “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” is one of Dickinson’s many canonized poems about suffering and death, and it features the jarring dashes, unique capitalization, dramatic and puzzling diction, and crisscrossing interpretations that make up her idiosyncratic style.

Poet Biography

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830. Her family was prestigious, and her father was a prominent politician and lawyer.