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The Contradictory Experience of Grief

Given that its primary conceit revolves around a funeral, it should come as no surprise that the poem’s central theme relates to grief. Curiously, though, the object of grief is never evident. That is to say, the speaker never specifically identifies what it is they have lost. It could indeed be a loved one whose body is in the “Box” mentioned in line 9. However, it could also be a cherished friendship or even a long-held belief. Although we don’t know what the speaker is grieving, we do know that their actual experience of grief is contradictory. In the poem’s opening stanza (lines 1–4), for instance, the speaker describes their grief as deeply agitating:

     I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
     And Mourners to and fro
     Kept treading – treading – till it seemed
     That Sense was breaking through –

Here, the presence of mourners at a wake has an unsettling effect, made evident by the repetitive “treading – treading” of their movements through the funeral parlor. The speaker seems to feel that this agitation has a positive effect, since “Sense was breaking through.” But the speaker reverses this association in the second stanza (lines 5–9):

     And when they all were seated,
     A Service, like a Drum –
     Kept beating – beating – till I thought
     My mind was going numb –

Initially, it seems like the “beating – beating” of the drum might agitate the speaker in the same way as the “treading – treading.” However, it has the opposite effect, numbing their feelings completely, and thereby affirming the contradictory experience of grief.

The Indifference of the Universe

One of the key themes in “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” concerns the profound indifference of the universe. This theme arises most clearly in the poem’s fourth stanza (lines 13–16):

     As all the Heavens were a Bell,
     And Being, but an Ear,
     And I, and Silence, some strange Race,
     Wrecked, solitary, here –

These lines lay out a tightly constructed series of parallel metaphors. Just as the speaker likens “the Heavens” to “a Bell,” so too do they liken “Being” to an “Ear,” and “I” and “Silence” to “some strange Race.” Taken together, these parallel metaphors generate a complex image in which “Being” is passively receptive like an “Ear,” listening in “Silence” as a cosmic “Bell” resounds through “the Heavens.” Since the speaker (“I”) is also equated to “Silence,” they too are like a passively receptive “Ear.” The speaker further suggests that to be “here”—that is, to be a “Being” in this world—is to be the member of “some strange Race.” Thus, just as a typhoon might wash a castaway onto a desert island, so too does the cosmic cacophony deposit the beleaguered speaker on the shores of this world—“Wrecked, solitary, here.” Although this image is quite complex and abstract, it powerfully demonstrates the speaker’s feeling of passivity within the vast scope of the universe.

The Disorientation of Madness

As the poem reaches its climax in the final stanza (lines 17–20), the speaker describes the disorientation they experience as they descend into a fit of madness:

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

The speaker depicts their descent as a headlong plunge through space. This plunge begins when the capacity to think rationally collapses. Here, rationality—or “Reason”—is figured as a floor made of wooden planks. Such a floor typically provides a solid ground on which to stand and hence think clearly. But when a plank in that metaphorical floor suddenly breaks, rationality itself collapses. The speaker plunges “down, and down,” no longer able to orient their body or ground themself in logical thought. Adding to their disorientation, the speaker crashes violently into one “World” after another as they careen through the cosmic void. So disorienting is the break from rationality that, by the poem’s final line, the speaker claims that they have “Finished knowing.” Furthermore, their words suddenly break off as though they’ve unexpectedly lost even the capacity to orient themself with language.

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