Group Post Dickinson 340

Based on language in the poem it seems Dickinson may be writing, on the literal level, about having a migraine. The first line- "I felt a Funeral in my Brain" may be alluding to the pain of the intense headache. Or perhaps the speaker is near a church and is actually hearing a funeral and feeling the pain of each sound, as one does when in the midst of a migraine. The repetitive language found in the piece, "treading - treading" and "beating - beating" are devices that may be in direct correlation to the throbbing pain in the speaker's head.

The use of capitalization, as is typical in Dickinson's work, seems at first a little random and confusing. There are several words inexplicably capitalized until special attention is paid to the significance of the words that are not capitalized. In the first line, "Brain" is capitalized, then the word "mind" is left alone in the last line of the second stanza. Because of the obvious connection between these two words, it becomes necessary to flush out possible meanings for each. 

Brain- physical, scientific, organ, nervous system, etc. 

mind- metaphysical, consciousness, thought, emotion, etc.

The lack of capitalization in the word "mind" calls for a comparison. Why is the difference between these two similar yet vastly different words important for the speaker in the poem? 

The last line of the poem also uses the word "knowing" which is another of the interestingly uncapitalized words in the poem. It is also a function of each a brain and a mind, linking all three, leading to possible epistomological and ontological themes of the poem. The use of this word at the end here is one more nail in the coffin, so to speak, leading the reader to question the function of  mind, or thought in this piece.

The tone of the poem is clouded, muddy, as if the speaker is somehow removed from that world which she is hearing. As if, perhaps, she is underwater. Language in the poem such as "treading," "wrecked," and "plank," allow for this underwater reading. 

Jordan Almond