I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain - Sound to Sense (Question 16)

"And then I heard them lift a box / And creak across my Soul" (lines 9-10)

      The sounds in this poem are easily defined, and they add to the overall dreary effect that the author is striving for. Emily Dickinson cited consistent and one-dimensional sounds of "treading" and sounds "like a Drum" while also referencing sounds like a "creak" that add a a creepy, funeral-like sense to the poem. Although the sounds in this poem add dimension to the story Dickinson is trying to relate to her reader, the most powerful sounds are not sounds at all. The second line, "And Mourners to and fro," is not a clearly defined sound, but I can still hear it. Most of Dickinson's readers will be of a mature age, and they will have all most likely attended a funeral or showing at some point in their life. They all know that absence of sound that accompanies such a social situation. It is not polite to be loud, so instead of a steady beating of voices, there is a rumble of passing mourners. They do not cause much noise, but they are followed by that sound of restless movement. Dickinson's poem successfully embodies that sound that is, in fact, not a sound.