i felt a funeral in my brain Flashcards
what do “Felt” and “Brain” suggest
the experience is intense and physical
what is the allegorical description
the feeling that the normal function of her mind has ended
funeral in the brain is a metaphor for the death of her mind
what does the allegory of the funeral attempt to do
extériorise and give a temporal structure to what is in fact internal and simultaneous
what does the speaker alienating herself from her feelings do
she can freely express her thoughts w/o addressing the fact that these thoughts are the own torment of her mind
asked the freedom to present what tortures her the most without granting permission to enter the privacy of her own feelings
without the systematic articulate ceremony of funeral rites..
a reader may have no idea what the speaker is describing and the poem would lack coherence and unity
the reader may not be able to fully apprehend the experiential anguish of the process
what has dramatizing what occurred with herself through this allegory done
give it a clarity that a mere straightforward desc of the descent into madness could not
why does speaker use familiar words and a familiar situation
to dramatize the loss of her mind so that it’s an explanation that can be understood by those who haven’t experienced it
she’s able to capitalize on the use of this allergory in the desc of..
the breaking of the plank that holds her coffin- a horrifying thought to anyone- as a mean of dramatizing the horror of her personal descent
it is a nostalgic retrospective
it’s terrifying in its loneliness and her isolation from others yet represented without a feeling of terror
she chooses to show there was a deterioration that led to the loss of herself
presenting it as a loss of life through the means of a funeral. it’s the loss of a person or “life” in a metaphorical sense
by describing the funeral is if it were her own
the vision of her, alone in her coffin knowing fully well that this is something most people shudder to think about further compounds the sense of her loneliness & isolation
desperation from self is also illustrated
as she presents the events of the funeral- not how she feels at the funeral, but instead details of the events of the funeral. she shows them in a matter of fact manner
mourners are portrayed as faceless, devoid of feeling & emotion
they are just beings who are there, unfeeling.
no individual is mentioned, no sentence is uttered,
•no mourning attire us described. no sounds of sadness or muffled cries, no eulogy, it’s as if the person doesn’t exist
•the illustration is one of total isolation from the real world & more importantly from any sort of feelings by people about her
abolishes traditional boundary between
experience of the mind and those of the body. “Treading-“ emphasizes physicality
“Wrecked, solitary here-“ , starling immediacy to the experience.
reason was the faculty that could help make sense of the experience however it didn’t hold up “And then a Plank in Reason, broke,” she undergoes new sensation of falling, plunging deeper down to new levels/worlds
her thought and knowledge are lost in the fall
deterioration of her mind and sense of being
lines drone on
tone of funeral procession. somber tone with underlying feeling of desperation, one who’s trapped emotional and figuratively& can’t escape
solitary feeling of isolation on all levels both physical and emotional
the structure monotony of the funeral service shows a metaphorical relationship in more detail, creating a parallel to let us know that this process of a progressive loss of her mind is as natural as progression from life to death
plank breaking
pain, final indignity depriving person of leaving the world ina respectable manner
“hit a World, at every plunge,”
accentuated her frantic efforts to survive, not giving up until there was nothing left, no other worlds to try
capitalization of “Funeral” and “Brain” signify what
•indicate that they’re linked
what does poem describe
• a funeral service, instead of being real, it shows us her mental state through description of a “Funeral in (her) Brain”
“Mourners” are at funeral too,
something has died within speaker
are we given concrete cause for this feeling
•not given concrete cause for feeling of longing and mourning, leaving us in the dark
proceedings continue, what do the mourners do
•carry a “Box” (maybe containing speakers sanity) through the speaker
never told what the box contains, maybe suggests that
•this feeling can feel like a funeral for an unknown person, creating feelings if anonymity and confusion
dashes in this poem contribute to what
•creating a sense of disorientation and also add to the ambiguity of prom and confusion the poet and reader have regarding this melancholic feeling
“A Service, like a Drum - / Kept beating - beating -“
“Kept treading - treading -•
•dashes between beating and impies the actions are repetitive and oppressive
what does this oprrssion result in
•something snapping in the dishes: “then a plank in Reason, broke”
•speaker engulfed in confusing unknown abyss as they drop “down and down”
speaker “hit a World, at every plunge,” / And Finished knowing - then -“
“Finished” suggests closure, but line ends with a dash contradicting this
•reader left confused as to what speaker will say and we’re intrigued to know more
never find out what speaker will say
•seems as if they themself don’t know, “ - then -“ may mean speaker has now lost all thought and they’re left in dark also as a cause of the death of their sanity/mind
