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Each stanza in Dickinson’s poem follows an ABCB rhyme scheme, which is typical for many poems and songs written in common meter. This rhyme scheme places extra stress on the second and fourth lines of each stanza and hence organizes each stanza into two clear line pairs. Yet despite this rigid organization, the rhymes in “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” aren’t always exact. Pairings like “Drum” and “numb” (lines 6 and 8), as well as “Soul” and “toll” (lines 10 and 12), are indeed identical in sound. However, consider the rhyme pair in the opening stanza: “fro” and “through” (lines 2 and 4). Though very close in sound, their vowel sounds aren’t precisely matched. As such, these two words don’t form an identical pair, which make them an example of slant rhyme. Here and elsewhere the use of slant rhyme subtly undercuts the intrinsic musicality of the poem’s meter.

In the final stanza (lines 17–20), Dickinson pushes slant rhyme to the breaking point:

     And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
     And I dropped down, and down –
     And hit a World, at every plunge,
     And Finished knowing – then –

Although both “down” and “then” are one-syllable words that end with an N sound, they can hardly be said to rhyme. However, the fact that they don’t quite form a complete rhyming pair helps to emphasize the abruptness of the poem’s ending, where the speaker seems to get cut off mid-sentence. Throughout most of the poem the ABCB rhyme scheme creates a sense of closure for each stanza. But here the lack of a distinct rhyme frustrates the reader’s ear and leaves us feeling not quite satisfied. Thus, although the final line is metrically complete, meaning that is contains the expected six syllables of iambic trimeter, it’s incomplete from the point of view of the rhyme scheme. In the end, then, the poem leaves the impression of being at once resolved and yet prematurely cut off.

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