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Emily Dickinson, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”

As suggested by its title, Dickinson’s poem concerns a strange funeral that takes place in the speaker’s brain. Because the funeral is abstracted in this way, it isn’t clear whether someone has actually died, or if everything in the poem is a figment of the speaker’s imagination. The poem explores how grief can be intensely disorienting, which connects to Auden’s examination of grief’s destabilizing power in “Funeral Blues.”

Langston Hughes, “The Weary Blues”

The main thing “Funeral Blues” and “The Weary Blues” have in common is their shared reference to the blues music tradition. In Auden’s case, the reference to blues is somewhat vague. The poem was originally written as a song, the accompaniment for which was composed in a blues style. However, in the poem’s non-musical form, the reference to the blues relates generally to the speaker’s sadness. For Hughes, by contrast, the blues musical tradition becomes a symbol for a renewed sense of purpose and pride among Black communities.

Walt Whitman, “O Captain! My Captain!”

“O Captain! My Captain!” is an elegy Whitman wrote to mourn the death of Abraham Lincoln. As a poem about loss, it’s worth comparing with “Funeral Blues” on thematic as well as formal levels. The differences in form are particularly interesting, as both Whitman and Auden introduce unexpected technical features to explore the various forms grief can take. Aside from their literary value, both poems have also been featured in famous films. “O Captain! My Captain!” appeared in Dead Poets Society (1989). “Funeral Blues” appeared in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).

Previous section Historical & Literary Context

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