believe that her poems of sanity represented her mental state and perhaps indicate a shaking of the foundations of her psychic being. The lack of interaction with the outside world served as an impeding precursor to her "nervous breakdown."
             Among Dickinson's written works on the subjects of death, sanity, and nature, five poems deserve special attention: "Because I could not stop for Death," "There is a Funeral in my Brain," "I heard a fly buzz when I Died," "To die- takes just a little while," and "I reason, Earth is short." Since Dickinson decided not to title her poems, they are often labeled by the first line of the first stanza or by the number they appear in the published volume of her work.
             Dickinson's writing style and method, and the manner in which she approaches subjects in her poetry, are very distinct. Dickinson was very organized in her approach to writing poetry, often using worksheet drafts to assist her in the writing process. The end results of Dickinson's composition process are poems that are reflective and precise. In a further examination of her poetry specific characteristics arise through her distinct use of diction, meter, rhyme, and the dash. These figures of speech allow her to create poems that were intimate, universal, and unique.
             Diction is an important aspect of Dickinson's poetry, and as aforementioned, she went through great lengths to ensure that she selected precise words for each single line. However, as a result of her abundant vocabulary, many of her poems have various implications as well as associations. In her poem, "I felt a funeral in my Brain," her diction is very important in creating a parallel scene between the funeral procession and the speaker's own procession of insanity. Words like "bell" in the fourth stanza create the imagery of a bell tolling...