Arts & Entertainment, Writing
Discussion With Marie Howe: Emily Dickinson
Lesson time 08:01 min
Billy invites acclaimed poet and friend Marie Howe to read and discuss Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain.” Learn how Dickinson’s creative use of capitalization builds an entire world out of a state of mind.
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Topics include: Discussion With Marie Howe: Emily Dickinson
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In his first-ever online class, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins teaches you how to find joy, humor, and humanity in reading and writing poetry.
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[MUSIC PLAYING] - As part of my master class, I've invited another poet to have a conversation with me. And I'm very happy that Marie Howe, one of my dear friends and a poet I deeply admire, agreed to be part of the master class to see what kind of perspectives we have on teaching poetry, the craft of poetry, and how to look at a poem, how to talk about a poem. So I'm happy to welcome Marie Howe. Marie, would you mind reading the poem we're going to look at. And that's by Emily Dickinson, who never titled her poems. So we know them by their first lines. And her first line in this case is, "I felt a funeral in my brain." - I'm happy to read this poem. This poem means the world to me. "I felt a funeral, in my brain, and mourners to and fro kept treading-- treading-- till it seemed that sense was breaking through-- And when they all were seated, a service, like a drum-- kept beating-- beating-- till I thought my mind was going numb-- And then I heard them lift a box and creak across my soul with 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 race, wrecked, 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--" You ever felt like this, Billy? - Not quite this extreme. Emily Dickinson is-- I mean, one of the things to say about her is she is a poet of a real delicacy and decorum. She sings her little song in the same way every time, pretty much four beats and then three beats. And she doesn't know what she's going to say every time, but she always has that common meter waiting for her. - It's the hymn meter. - Yes, the meter of hymns or nursery rhymes. Old King Cole was a merry old soul. It's the-- Amazing Grace is four beats, three beats. These quatrains are waiting for her. The box is there, pre-prepared for her. There's such civility in so many of her poems, like "death kindly stopped for me." At the same time, she is dealing with extreme states-- live burial. And in this case-- - A breakdown. - A complete nervous breakdown. So that's the beautiful tension I find in-- one of the tensions anyway, between her decorous, mannerly language, and these frightening extremities that she is dealing with. - Yeah, and her capitalization of nouns, and her commas, and her dashes. I've read this poem over 100 times. And for the first 30, I still couldn't quite understand that penultimate stanza. She's is a surrealist in this poem, really. I mean, this is fantastic, right? "I felt a funeral in my brain." And then, not only is it a funeral. But she feels the people walking back and forth, treading, treading, treading, until it seemed not that they were breaking through, but that sense was going to break through. As if there's a floor that's got-- which later, that plank is going to give way. - And there are...
About the Instructor
Known for his wit and wisdom, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins is one of America’s most beloved contemporary poets. In his MasterClass, Billy teaches you to appreciate the emotional pull of poetry. Learn his approach to exploring subjects, incorporating humor, and finding your voice. Discover the profound in the everyday, and let poetry lead you to the unexpected.
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Billy Collins
In his first-ever online class, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins teaches you how to find joy, humor, and humanity in reading and writing poetry.
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