J280

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,And Mourners to and froKept treading - treading - till it seemedThat Sense was breaking through -

And when they all were seated,A Service, like a Drum -Kept beating - beating - till I thoughtMy Mind was going numb -

And then I heard them lift a BoxAnd creak across my SoulWith those same Boots of Lead, again,Then Space - began to toll,

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

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

c. 1861                1896

It is not clear whether this poem is another of Dickinson’s many investigations of the epistemological frontier between life and death, language and silence, or whether she is using the image of death as a metaphor to talk about a profoundly life-altering experience. In either case, the final stanza suggests that Reason has its limits and that silence, or death, contains the ultimate knowledge that transcends all understanding.