Poetry Devices

In "I felt a Funeral in my Brain" Dickens opens a poem with this metaphor:

"I felt a Funeral in my Brain, / And Mourners to and fro" (Dickinson 1-2). This is an exceptional use of a metaphor in the poem because you cannot literally have a funeral inside of you brain. In the second line the speaker is thinking of mourners that are pacing back and forth inside of her head during the funeral. I chose this because I feel that Dickinson does a great job of using a metaphor and the feeling of sadness that she is describing became very real when I read this.

This example of a simile comes from the same poem "I felt a Funeral in my Brain": "A Service, like a Drum- / Kept beating-beating-till I thought / My Mind was going numb-" (Dickinson 6-8). This simile is describing the funeral service once it has begun. In line seven the beating that is mentioned is most likely not a very good feeling and rather uncomfortable. I chose this because I really liked this simile and it describes very well how sitting through a funeral does not feel good, but rather uncomfortable. When I read this simile I could not help but feel a bass drum thumping inside of my chest.

I chose these examples for a few reasons. First, they come from my favorite poem that I read during the research process. Second because I felt as if I could see the mourners that are pacing, and I could feel the drum beating. These are both significant because without each of these we would not really be able to grasp what Dickinson is really feeling as she is writing this poem.

Bibliography

Bibliography:

Biography.com: (biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/emily-dickinson-9274190. Retrieved 22 September, 2015)

Image:

Poets.org (www.poets.org, www.http://www.poets.org/sites/default/files/styles/286x289/public/images/biographies/155_EmilyDickinsonSmall.jpg?itok=cQkQwNTK. Retrieved 22 September, 2015.)

Poets.org (www.poets.org, http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/emily-dickinson. retrieved 22, Sept, 2015.)

Poetryfoundation.org (www.poetryfoundation.org, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/emily-dickinson. Retrieved 22 Sept, 2015.)

Poetryfoundation.org (www.poetryfoundation.org, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174975. Retrieved 22 September, 2015.)

Video:

www.youtube.com (www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW9P1xMDhXQ. Retrieved 22 September, 2015.)

Evaluation

Emily Dickinson was a great poet and is still world-renowned today. Dickinson is very worthy of study by a Christian reader for a few reasons, first because she herself claimed to be a Christian, although her idea of Christianity is odd and difficult to explain. Her faith and knowledge of the faith is also seen in her poetry where she mentions the resurrection in "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers". When reading poems by Dickinson I felt like I could personally connect with a few poems, specifically "I felt a Funeral in my Brain" when Dickinson mentioned the drum beating in line 6-7 I remember going to funerals and feeling a similar feeling that Dickinson mentioned. I did feel personally challenged with both my faith and my worldview when I did the research on Dickinson. I read her confusing beliefs on marriage that she shared with her future sister-in-law, and I feel that it made me think about how I defined marriage in my heart and re-visit what the Bible says about marriage.

Favorite Poem/Video

My favorite poem I read while studying Emily Dickinson was "I felt a Funeral in my Brain". I really like this poem because I found myself relating to the feeling that Dickinson felt except her funeral was inside her head and I experienced this at an actual funeral.

Here is a link to this poem being read: (Copy/Paste into browser)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW9P1xMDhXQ

Here is a link to an online posting: (Copy/Paste into browser)
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174975

Bio

Emily Dickinson was born December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts to Edward and Emily Dickinson. She attended Amherst academy and proceeded to attend Mount Holyoke Female Seminary as well. Dickinson also had a brother: William Dickinson, and a half-sister: Lavinia Norcross Dickinson. Her father was a lawyer who studied at Yale and practiced in their hometown of Amherst. He also was a politician who was involved in the Whig party, he was also elected as a member of both the state legislature, the state senate, and a member of the U.S Congress as well. Her brother was also a lawyer, studying at Harvard and teamed up with his father, Edward at his law practice and eventually was his father's successor. William Austin went on to become the Treasurer of Amherst College and married one of Dickinson's closest friend: Susan Gilbert.

            Dickinson lived very much so in isolation for most if not all of her life. She never married and lived at home with her parents for most of her life, she served as the lead caretaker to her mother for around while she suffered from a severe illness until she died in the early 1880's. Her sister also never married and her and Emily never left the homestead until their deaths.

            Dickinson began her writing career when she was a teenager, and she was also writing poetry while she was serving as the caretaker for her mother, often filling notebooks filled with what she is the most well known for poems. During her life, she wrote thousands of poems but only a small amount of those were published while she was still alive. When she died in 1886, she left around 1,800 poems unpublished. After she died, her poems became published one after another beginning in the 1890's, with the first complete volume being released in 1955.