"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain"
Emily Dickinson
In this completely typical Dickinson poem, the speaker utilizes vivid imagery to express her alienation. Specifically, the sensations of feeling and hearing convey the uncomfortable and isolated experiences of the speaker.
The first scenes of feeling seem to suggest that the speaker suffers from some malady of the head. The speaker describes her situation in terms of people walking through her head: an obviously unpleasant experience. More than that, the people were attending a funeral. Additionally, the activity of this funeral contributed to a numbing sensation in her head.
By using sounds of this funeral, it becomes apparent that this funeral is meant for the speaker. "And then I heard them lift a Box And creak across my Soul..." (Dickinson, 776). This fact hints to the alienation of the speaker from her friends who apparently view her as dead. One can surmise that this malady is distancing the speaker from her friends or her social class.
Finally, through diction of feeling, the speaker confirms this suspicion; as if the bottom of the coffin had fallen, the speaker fell out of touch with her class and down the social ladder.
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