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 toll,
As 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 -
Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ Five Stages of Grief in Relation to Emily Dickinson’s Poetry
In “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” Emily Dickinson paints a scene of wreckage and despair in the mind of the speaker and guides her through Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief.1 Grief is a complex and multifaceted emotion that is portrayed through destructive metaphor, repetition, and meter. In “Loss and Resolution in ‘Riders to the Sea’: Reflecting on the Theory of Grief,” Yumiko Kataoka applies Kübler-Ross’ five stages of grief to a piece of literature, validating her theory by claiming that her “model is generally accepted among public and has been treated as an all-purpose theory to cope with bereavement” (15). In her book, On Death and Dying, Kübler-Ross proposes and exemplifies the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The speaker in Dickinson’s, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” progresses through these stages. Contained within 20 lines and 5 ballad stanzas,2 this poem relays the unnerving experience of a person who uses a metaphorical funeral to comprehend her mental grief. Though the cause of grief remains ambiguous, the connotations of the funeral reveal that something has died within the speaker’s mind. In the final stanza, the speaker plummets into madness, losing her mind instead of dealing with her pain. Using the support of similar poems by Dickinson, the destructive diction in “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” will be analyzed according to Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ five stages of grief to explain the speaker’s coping methods and to allow a better understanding of the poem.
The first stage of Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ grief model, denial, is stretched across the first three stanzas of “I felt Funeral, in my Brain.” The speaker denies her grief by metaphorically correlating it to a funeral procession, using the repetition of destructive, auditory diction to do so. Denial is a temporary coping mechanism that “functions as a buffer” (Kübler-Ross 34) and is defined by a deliberate sense of doubt. In the first stanza of “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” the speaker introduces the funeral, claiming that her brain throbs from the constant “treading – treading” (3) of the mourners. This epizeuxis illustrates the physical force of the mourner’s footsteps and the pain they cause the speaker. Enjambment carries line 2 over to line 3, portraying the continuation of the treading. As a result, the material beneath the mourner’s feet threatens to give way, “till it seemed / That Sense was breaking through –” (3-4). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the noun “sense” is defined as the “reasoning faculty of the human mind in a normal or undisturbed state.” This implies the strength of denial, as the speaker still believes that rationality will save her. A similar poem by Dickinson, “I felt a cleaving in my mind,” also contains the notion that mental anguish can be fixed: “I tried to match it, seam by seam / But could not make them fit” (3-4). By trying to mend the destruction, the speaker denies the severity of her grief. In “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” the speaker also hopes to dissolve the situation by denying the obvious. In the second stanza, the mourners finally stop “treading” (3) and sit down, but a second epizeuxis quickly replaces this one: the “beating – beating” (7) of the funeral service that Dickinson compares to a drum. The speaker feels as if her mind is going “numb” (8) from the incessant noise, a testimony to the numbing effect of denial. The third stanza then describes the mourners lifting the coffin and carrying it across the speaker’s soul with heavy footsteps. Dickinson’s use of the word, “Box” (9) reveals that the speaker is impartial to the death that occurred, comparing it to the quotidian in order to detach from its extremity. In line 11, the choice of “Lead” contributes to the weight of the mourner’s boots, but instead of inserting her personal objections, the speaker simply relates these events with an impassive tone. This is to be expected of someone in denial, as they will attempt to separate themselves from their pain. This stanza ends with a bell ringing that seems to reverberate from everywhere. Again, the use of “toll” (12) is a testimony to the strain on the speaker’s mind, as “toll” is a heavier sound than other onomatopoeias, such as, “ring.” Kübler-Ross’ research reveals that most patients “suddenly indicate their inability to look at [their situation] realistically any longer” (36). Though the speaker in “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” is aware of her grief, she becomes dissuaded by its gravity, falls into a state of denial, and perceives it as less or different than it actually is. Therefore, the extended metaphor helps the speaker understand her grief by comparing it to a funeral. The repetition of destructive sounds creates a commotion that angers the speaker, driving her towards the next stage of grief.
Anger, though often a boisterous emotion, is noticed only fleetingly in “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” through the destruction of auditory language. This occurs when the speaker realizes she lacks the superiority to change her fate and expunge her grief. The beginning of the fourth stanza is characteristic of this anger. As a result of the irritability that emerges from the ceaseless “treading,” (3) “beating,” (7) and “toll[ing],” (12) the speaker grows angry with her place in the world. Lines 13 and 14, which state, “As all the Heavens were a Bell, / And Being, but an Ear,” use metaphor to illustrate the ringing that fills the sky and possibly heaven itself, depending on Dickinson’s definition of “Heavens.” The speaker is irritated by her inferiority as seen by the use of one key adverb: “but” (14). The Oxford English Dictionary defines “but” as, “Nothing but, no more than, only merely” (But, n.2a). This adverb is therefore condensing existence, claiming that the speaker’s state is no better than an ear, which can only listen to those with the superior ability to dictate her life. Though angry at being reduced to such a low state, the speaker only remains in this stage for two lines. In Dickinson’s poem, “Mine Enemy is growing old,” she claims that “Anger as soon as fed is dead –,” (7) declaring that once expressed, anger quickly retreats. The existence of anger, though temporary, contributes to the speaker’s unstable state, and thus, her grief.
Dickinson’s use of destructive diction in “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” demonstrates the bargaining stage. The speaker is still angry over her limited control and believes that if she can bargain for more power, she can get rid of her grief. Line 15, which states, “And I, and Silence, some strange Race,” shows the speaker’s attempt to regain power in a race against “Silence” (15). Dickinson personifies this noun, showing silence’s power to render the speaker weak and “wrecked” (16). This is also symbolic of the speaker racing against emotion. Dickinson’s poem, “I can Wade Grief,” comes from a similar perspective on power. In this poem, the speaker is accustomed to pain, but a glimpse of happiness causes her to stumble. Line 10 says, “Power is only Pain –” which delineates the inefficiency of bargaining in general. It is blatant that bargaining to change what cannot be controlled is a futile task; nevertheless, the race continues. Line 15 also makes use of caesuras to create a choppy rhythm, one that gives the impression that the speaker is stumbling and tripping in the race at every pause in meter. This stanza is again a perfect example of a ballad stanza, as no syllables are out of place. This shows that bargaining is normal and beneficial to the speaker “though only for brief periods of time” (Kübler-Ross 71). This quest to bargain for power acts as a reality check for the speaker. She has broken away from her need to disguise her grief in the extended metaphor of the funeral, (as from this point on, it is no longer mentioned), as well as her desire to blame someone or attempt to bargain for mental stability. The speaker has begun to understand that there is no way out of her destroyed mind.
Depression, portrayed through vivid metaphors and destructive diction, is one of the more noticeable stages of grief in Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain.” Line 11 portrays this numbing element, saying, “With those same Boots of Lead, again.” As mentioned before, lead is a heavy metal, and the impact “Boots of Lead” have on the speaker’s mind is destructive. Depression is often characterized by repetitive, anguishing thoughts, and the mourner’s boots symbolize the intrusive nature of these thoughts and how they can instigate madness or numbness. The word “again,” (11) displays the repetition of these thoughts. Dickinson also uses the word “lead” in “After great pain, a formal feeling comes.” According to David F. Maas’ essay, “Reflections on Self-reflexiveness in Literature,” which examines various poet-reader relationships, including Dickinson’s, “depression and acceptance appear toward the end of the process” (317) in “After great pain, a formal feeling comes.” Line 10 of this poem states that “This is the Hour of Lead –.” Dickinson capitalizes these words to emphasize their weight,2 portraying a debilitating hour that is only “Remembered, if outlived” (11). This later line implies how harrowing the hour of lead is; that it requires strength to overcome. The destructive use of this noun as seen in both “After great pain, a formal feeling comes” and “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” reinforces the crushing weight of the speaker’s depression. Though this fourth stage began before anger and bargaining, Kübler-Ross initially stated that each patient goes through the stages in different orders, claiming that, “these means will last for different periods of time and will replace each other or exist at times side by side” (126). Overlapping anger and bargaining, the speaker’s depression is painted as a metaphor in stanza four through the destructive image of a shipwreck. The aftermath of the speaker’s race with silence reveals that she lost the bargain, as she is “Wrecked, solitary, here –” (16). The verb “wrecked” followed by the adjective “solitary” paints an image of destructive isolation. Not only has the speaker lost the race, but she is now enveloped by silence. In this poem, the speaker only uses two of the five senses: touch and sound (seen in line 1, “I felt,” and line 9, “And then I heard”). The speaker is enclosed within her brain, and as a result, cannot see, taste, or smell. However, after this race, the speaker’s awareness is further diminished as both her physical and mental senses have been “wrecked” (16). Slowly but surely, the speaker has begun the descent into madness. The use of the adverb “here” (16) as opposed to “there” implies that the speaker isolated in her own mind; the speaker remains “here,” locked within herself. In “It was not Death, for I stood up,” stanza six also portrays a metaphorical shipwreck as seen through the word, “spar,” (22) which refers to the topmast of a ship. This imagery illustrates the speaker isolated without land in sight—which would justify depression (24). Isolation and depression show the speaker’s loss of hope; she does not believe land will save her. Through destruction in “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” the stage of depression brings the speaker closer to madness, which accentuates the intensity of her grief.
The fifth and final stage of Kübler-Ross’ stages of grief is acceptance, or at least, the attempt to obtain it. A key defining factor can be found on page 102 of On Death and Dying: “Acceptance should not be mistaken for a happy stage. It is almost void of feelings.” This means that reaching the state of acceptance should not feel as if the hardship is over; if anything, it has only gotten worse. The difference between the previous stages and this one is that the patient has now been able to make peace with the fact that they cannot change what happened. In the case of “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” the speaker has concluded that life will never return to the way it once was: when she was mentally stable and the part of her that died was alive. This can be seen by her willing and intentional descent into madness. Acceptance comes in many different ways. The speaker’s attempt is less conventional as she turns to madness in order to accept her grief. To reiterate Kübler-Ross’ quote, a patient “may briefly talk about the reality of their situation, and suddenly indicate their inability to look at it realistically any longer” (35). This is exactly what the speaker attempts to do in the final stanza: use madness to justify grief by disguising it with illusion. Line 17 demonstrates this: “And Then a Plank in Reason, broke.” Dickinson’s use of capitalizing “Then” (17) provides an ironic tone to this line, as if the speaker is relieved that the plank broke, correlating “then” with “finally.” This is a deliberate move on Dickinson’s part, as “then” is not a noun, but an adverb, and therefore does not adhere to the law of capitalizing nouns. This shows the speaker’s willingness to let go of reality and plummet through worlds and into madness. The last word of line 20 shows how the speaker does not know how to describe the place in which she ends up. “And Finished knowing – then –” (20) is ambiguous, as the speaker’s rational mind has shut down and is incapable of providing a concrete image of what follows. The poem just drops off and ends. This madness is essential in the speaker’s stage of acceptance. Dickinson’s poem, “From Blank to Blank” contains a similar theme of struggle. The speaker in this poem finds peace at the end by closing her eyes and turning inward instead of being overwhelmed by the situation. Line 10 says, “’Twas lighter – to be Blind –,” which parallels the speaker’s lack of sight in “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain.” In addition, it shows that although the speaker may not know where she is headed, she attempts to accept her grief and move on. That is what the speaker in “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” is trying to do: move on. Madness is the vehicle that the speaker uses to do so, as this way, her grief becomes unrecognizable. “A Death-blow is a Life-blow to some” is another of Dickinson’s poems that tie into this theme. To clarify, Dickinson often used the word “death” to illustrate a transition and not an actual death. In Eleanore Lewis Lamberts essay, “Emily Dickinson’s Joke About Death,” which seeks to find levity in Dickinson’s poetry, Lambert states that, “Dickinson’s word ‘death’ typically means change, the transformation of identity, or the initiation of a newer, broader level of awareness” (8). In “A Death-blow is a Life-blow to some,” the speaker is not dying, she is transitioning, and she is doing so through a negative vehicle. The paradox of this first line states that if life can be interpreted from death (or destructive change), then sanity can be found in insanity, and stability in instability. What the speaker is going through in both poems is a transition. In “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” the speaker moves through the process of grief while simultaneously moving through the procession of a funeral. This transition is sustained by the loss of reason, as the ability to make sense of grief and postulate its cause is more destructive than the grief itself. From the Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson, Fred D. White’s essay, “Emily Dickinson’s Existential Dramas,” explores ideas of existentialism from various philosophers to show the spiritual aspect in Dickinson’s poetry. One philosopher he draws from is Soren Kierkegaard: “Now lest the individual be overwhelmed by hopelessness and despair, Kierkegaard posits a way out, and that is to abandon reason and make a pure leap of faith…” (97). White then compares this thought to Dickinson’s poetry: “Dickinson’s speakers do not make such a leap” (97). In “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” instead of leaping, the speaker falls into insanity. Line 20 states that the speaker stopped knowing, lost reason, and gained acceptance by rendering her problem incomprehensible and unrecognizable. Ultimately, the speaker chose to resolve her grief by disassociating from it altogether. This attempt is not very effective, as seen in the destructive diction of breaking (17), of dropping down (18), of hitting a world at every plunge (19), and of finishing (20). In addition, the anaphora of “And” is seen sporadically throughout the poem; however, in the final stanza, each line begins with “And,” revealing a gradual build-up that leads to the destructive volta in line 17. This completes the transition of the speaker and intensifies the detrimental emotion through the repetition of sound. The stage of acceptance in “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” is an unhealthy one. The speaker slowly loses her mind in the effort to apply defense and coping mechanisms. The poem ends when the speaker completes the transition and enters a new mental world, one that seeks to explain grief in terms of madness. This is seen in the slow unravelling of comprehensibility in line 20, which uses destructive diction in order to abruptly obliterate the speaker’s reason and the poem.
In Emily Dickinson’s poem, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” the speaker transitions through Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ five stages of grief, allowing her state of mind to explain the poem’s content. The speaker, despite being always aware of grief, clings to the possibility that sanity can be restored. This illusion quickly fades within the first two stanzas, and depression becomes apparent in the third and fourth, a numbing and sorrowful stage that emphasizes the imagery of this poem. This is overlapped by anger and bargaining, fleeting stages that examine the speaker’s place in the world and how she feels about herself. A feeble attempt at acceptance is finally executed, based on the ironic knowledge that madness can make sense of grief. The destructive diction and use of Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ grief model reveals the true severity of the speaker’s grief that Dickinson covers up with the extended metaphor and her passive tone. The speaker undergoes an intense period of mourning and transitioning prompted by the word “breaking” in line 4 and ending with “broke” in line 17. On either side of these destructive words are polar opposite states of mind: sanity in the first three lines, and insanity in the last three. In Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” grief begins the poem and madness concludes it, providing the speaker with a justification for her despair, one that lacks cause, but is defined by its destructive effects.
Notes
1. Though the speaker’s gender remains anonymous, Dickinson’s voice is characteristic to that of a woman, so “she” or “her” will be used throughout this paper.
2.The ballad stanza consists of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter.
3. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was common for poets and authors in Britain to capitalize the first letter of nouns in English. (See page 67 of David Crystal’s essay in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.) Though an American in the 19th century, Dickinson applied this method to her work. However, sometimes she would capitalize other words that were not nouns for emphasis.
Works Cited
“But, n.2a.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, September 2020, http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/11125. Accessed 27 November 2020.
Kataoka, Yumiko. “Loss and Resolution in “Riders to the Sea”: Reflecting on the Theory of Grief.” Journal of Irish Studies, vol. 32, 2017, pp. 13-21, JSTOR, http://ezproxy.uwindsor.ca.ledproxy2.uwindsor.ca/login?url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44504752
Kübler-Ross, Elizabeth. On Death and Dying, Routledge, 1969.
Lambert, Eleanore Lewis. “Emily Dickinson’s Joke about Death.” Studies in American Humor, no. 27, 2013, pp. 7-32, JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23823978.
Maas, David F. “Reflections on Self-reflexiveness in Literature.” Concord, vol. 60, no.3, 2003, pp. 313-321, ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/docview/204087986?accountid=14789.
“Sense, n.17a.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, September 2020, http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/11125. Accessed 27 November 2020.
The Poetry of Emily Dickinson. San Diego, Canterbury Classics, 2015.
White, Fred D. “Emily Dickinson’s Existential Dramas.” The Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson, edited by Martin Wendy, Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp. 91-106.
