Wordsworth's definition of poetry "Powerful emotion recollected in tranquility" seems not to apply to this dark and strange poem "I felt a funeral in my brain." The poem recollect strong emotions, however tranquility seems to be the opposite of Emily Dickinson's intentions of horror and grimness. A spiritual crisis is present but with the absence of the crisis's nature, portraying an even more mysterious atmosphere. Although the poem illustrates the orderly events of a funeral, the speaker becomes the funeral, and the events following take on "psychological significance" and a poetic expression of the separation of body and spirit. The poem is an interesting complex description of the association between the human mind, body, and soul during a time of mental suffering. The poem's possible meaning is concern or madness, but if it's about anything it explains the feeling of nothingness and that nothing in life can be ultimately understood. Whether its madness or the presence of death that opens up the speaker's mind, they finally realize that they are utterly alone but totally free.
             The poem describes a funeral in which the speaker is in attendance. Dickinson uses the funeral as a metaphor to represent a sense that a part of the speaker is dying and becoming mad. The most obvious suggestion for a funeral is the representation of death, providing the reader an appropriate tone for the poem. The dashes in the poem help to reinforce the numbness and concern the speaker is experiencing. Dickinson uses the dash as fragment language and to cause unrelated words to mesh together. A person under tremendous emotional stress experienced through the progression of madness would speak fragmentally and associate words with each other that have no compatibility. She brings the essence of madness to the tone of the poem.
             A funeral represents a place of order and control over de...