With all my misadventures this summer, I sadly discovered that I am behind on my blogging.  Today, while I looked through some old papers, I found an essay that I had written in college about Emily Dickinson’s poem, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain.”  The paper was written over twenty years ago, and I would not bore you with the dissection of the poem.  However, part of the assignment was to write a poem in a similar style to Dickinson’s work, and that I would love to share today. 

Funny, how over twenty years ago, I was in the middle of a new adventure while going to college, so I could start a career in teaching.  While writing that poem, never in my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined actually being related to this amazing poet!

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

By Emily Dickinson

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 –

Exploits

By Ann Marie Bryant

Even now – after endless years-

A dark silhouette still haunts.

Though I’ve shed a stream of tears-

The re-creation exploits my thoughts.

Domination –- Manipulation-

A weapon of pain and despair.

It rips the soul –- raw emotion-

Is it more than I can bear?

Cover the sorrow –- hide the pain-

Masquerade a truth.

Play the game but refrain-

From scrutinizing the misuse.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

                                     6th Cousin 5X Removed

10 DEC 1830 • Amherst, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA

15 MAY 1886 • Amherst, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA

Family Tree for Emily Dickinson

 John Gallup (1615-1675) and Hannah Lakes

Christobel Gallup (1660-1708)

Judge John Crary (1686-1759)

Prudence Crary (1722-1761)

Sarah Fairbanks (1757-1840)

Betsey Fay (1777-1829)

Emily Norcross (1804-1882)

Emily Dickinson ( 1830-1886)

Family Tree for Ann Marie Reeder Bryant

 

Works Cited

• Ancestors of Robert William Davis.” Genealogy.com. N.d. Web. 1 Jan 2013.
• Copeland, Alfred Minott; ed. Our Country and its People: A History of HampdenCounty, Massachusetts, Vol. 3. The Century Memorial Publishing Company. 1902.
• “Cristobell Gallup.” Geni.com. My Heritage, n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
• “Cristobell Gallup.” Wiki Tree. Interesting.com, n.d. Web. 24 June 2016.
• “Elizabeth ‘Betsey’ Fay Norcross.”   Find A Grave.  Ancestry.com, n.d.  Web.  18 Apr. 2016.
• “Emily Dickinson.”  AncientFaces.com.  N.d. Web. 3 March 2016.
• “Emiliy Dickinson.” FamousKin.com. N.d. Web. 2 March 2016.
• “Emiliy Dickinson.” Geni.com. My Heritage, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.
• Emily Dickinson Museum. Amherst Collage, n.d. Web. 26 Mar 2016.
• “Emily Elizabeth Dickinson.”  AboutEducaton. About, Inc., N.d. Web. 26 Mar 2016.
• “Emily’s Mother.” AboutEducaton. About, Inc., 17 Feb. 2016. Web. 26 Mar 2016.
• Hinds, Maurene. Emily Dickinson. ABDO Publishing Company. 1 Jan 2013.
• Jordan, John W. LL.D. Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania.Genealogical Publishing Co.   Baltimore. 1978.
• “Prudence Hayward.” Genealogy.com. N.d. Web. 1 Jan 2013.“Sarah Fairbanks.” Family Pursuit Community Family Tree. Creative Commons Attribution.n.d. Web. 1 Jan. 2013. Web.
• “Sarah Fairbanks.” Geni.com. My Heritage, n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
• The Society. Register of the National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York.
• Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Prior to 1700.   GenealogicalPublishing Company.   Boston. 1985.