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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]1. 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 --
A. Copland sets stanzas 1-4
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Copland: "lead, again"
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1896 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Treading", 196-? [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990), "I felt a funeral in my brain", 1949-50, stanzas 1-4 [ mezzo-soprano, piano ], from Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson, no. 9 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Michael M. Horvit (b. 1932), "I felt a funeral in my brain", published 1970 [ soprano and piano ], from Three Songs of Elegy [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Vaig sentir un funeral al meu cap", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "J'ai senti un enterrement dans ma tête", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 117
Vaig sentir un funeral al meu cap, i els acompanyants del dol, d’una banda a l’altra, caminaven sense parar fins que em semblà que estava perdent els sentits. I quan tots ells segueren, un ofici com un timbal batia sense parar fins que vaig pensar que l’enteniment se m’entumiria. I llavors vaig sentir com aixecaven una caixa i em travessaven l’ànima amb els cruixits d’aquelles mateixes botes de plom. Aleshores l’espai començà a repicar com si tot el cel fossin campanes, i l’existència fos només una orella, i jo i el silenci, una raça estranya, enrunada, solitària, aquí. Llavors una biga del meu enteniment es trencà i jo queia, queia avall, avall – i a cada esfondrament topava contra un món, i vaig acabar perdent el coneixement – llavors –
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2016 by Salvador Pila, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1896
This text was added to the website: 2016-03-29
Line count: 20
Word count: 130