I felt a funeral in my brain

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.

by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) , no title, from Poems by Emily Dickinson, published 1896

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) , "I felt a funeral in my brain", 1949-50 [mezzo-soprano, piano], from Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson, no. 9.
by Michael M. Horvit (1932-) , "I felt a funeral in my brain", published 1970 [soprano and piano], from Three Songs of Elegy, no. ?

FRE French (Guy Laffaille)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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