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How the Poet Feels they Lift the Coffin

  • Topic : How the Poet Feels they Lift the Coffin|Writer : Wole Soyinka
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How the Poet Feels they Lift the Coffin is a notable literary work by Wole Soyinka. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, to various questions of How the Poet Feels they Lift the Coffin.

Answer

Describe the mourners and how the poet feels they lift the coffin.

Emily Dickinson’s (1830 – 1886) “I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain” (1896) is the most celebrated poem. The poem creates a powerful and haunting image of a funeral. The funeral is taking place inside the poet’s mind. The mourners and the lifting of the coffin symbolize the poet’s mental struggle. This reflects deep sorrow and despair.

The Mourners’ Movements: The mourners in the poem are described as moving back and forth inside the speaker’s mind. This is just like how people might walk during a funeral. Dickinson says,

And Mourners to and fro 

Kept treading – treading – till it seemed.

That Sense was breaking through-

This describes how these thoughts are heavy and keep pressing on her mind. The poet feels as if her thoughts are so strong that they might break her ability to think clearly.

The Heavy Steps of the Mourners: The mourners are also described with “Boots of Lead.” This emphasizes the weight and burden of these thoughts on the poet’s soul. When they lift the coffin, it creates a creaking sound. The sound echoes through her soul, as seen in the line, 

And creak across my Soul 

With those same Boots of Lead, again.

This heavy, oppressive feeling reflects the poet’s sense of being crushed by sorrow and despair.

The Lifting of the Coffin: The act of lifting the coffin symbolizes the poet’s deepening mental distress. The poet hears the mourners lift the coffin. This seems to take a part of her with it. The coffin represents her mind. When the coffin is lifted, her sense of reality slips away. Dickinson says, 

And then I heard them lift a Box.

This suggests that with each lift, the poet feels more detached from her own mind. She is losing control over her thoughts and emotions.

In conclusion, the mourners and the lifting of the coffin in the poem symbolize the poet’s mental and emotional breakdown. Here, overwhelming thoughts and despair lead her to feel a deep sense of loss and isolation.