Prompt: Write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the poem's organization, diction, and figurative language prepare the reader for the speaker's concluding response.
This prompt fits the poem I chose because the poem is organized in the order of a funeral and the whole poem is figurative.
"And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down -
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing - then -"
Prewrite: dickinson's poem revolves around an imaginary funeral. the entire thing is figurative. it explains the feelings of the author as she feels that she's losing her sanity. Diction--the way she capitalizes words like Sense, used to mean "rational" and talks about capitalized words like they are names of something, almost like people
Dickinson writes the poem in the order of a funeral, using figurative language to allow the reader to see the events as they unfold. Certain words are chosen, aware that they will have an effect on how the reader perceives the poem--in this case, that the poem will not have a happy ending. While the last stanza is very abrupt, sounding almost unfinished, it is not wholly unexpected.
A funeral inside the mind of the author that involves Dickinson's sanity is the setting of the poem. "I felt a funeral, in my Brain" is the title of the poem, as well as the first line. This, right away, affects the mood of the poem. The use of figurative language is evident throughout the work, as the entire poem is figurative. The author says that "then a Plank in Reason, broke" and the reader then knows that she has, in her own opinion, lost her sanity. There are Mourners treading. Dickinson chooses this word perhaps because it sounds like "dreading", a word used when unhappy events are about to unfold. The last stanza is not the typical ending to a funeral, and there was nothing Dickinson did to prepare the reader for this. However, given the earlier content, it makes sense to the reader, and it can be inferred that the author has lost her sanity.
Dickinson's uses of organization, diction and figurative language are, as usual, constructed to form something rather ambiguous. Her poetry, though intriguing, does require an analysis to gain its full meaning. In the case of "I felt a funeral, in my Brain" the author's use of literary techniques is central to understanding what is being said.
A funeral inside the mind of the author that involves Dickinson's sanity is the setting of the poem. "I felt a funeral, in my Brain" is the title of the poem, as well as the first line. This, right away, affects the mood of the poem. The use of figurative language is evident throughout the work, as the entire poem is figurative. The author says that "then a Plank in Reason, broke" and the reader then knows that she has, in her own opinion, lost her sanity. There are Mourners treading. Dickinson chooses this word perhaps because it sounds like "dreading", a word used when unhappy events are about to unfold. The last stanza is not the typical ending to a funeral, and there was nothing Dickinson did to prepare the reader for this. However, given the earlier content, it makes sense to the reader, and it can be inferred that the author has lost her sanity.
Dickinson's uses of organization, diction and figurative language are, as usual, constructed to form something rather ambiguous. Her poetry, though intriguing, does require an analysis to gain its full meaning. In the case of "I felt a funeral, in my Brain" the author's use of literary techniques is central to understanding what is being said.
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