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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
Translation © by Ferdinando Albeggiani

I felt a funeral in my brain
Language: English 
Our translations:  CAT FRE GER GER ITA
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 --

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   A. Copland 

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

Sentivo un funerale, nella mente
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English 
Sentivo un funerale, nella mente,
e i dolenti si aggiravano intorno,
e ancora si aggiravano, fino a che
ogni senso sembrò venisse meno.

Poi quando tutti si furono seduti,
una cerimonia che, simile a un tamburo,
batteva e ribatteva - al punto che pensai
che mi si stesse annebbiando la mente.

Poi li sentii sollevare una bara,
e penetrarmi, scricchiolando, l'anima
ancora, e ancora, con stivali di piombo,
poi lo spazio iniziò a rintoccare

come se si fossero fatti campana tutti i cieli
e la creazione nient'altro che un orecchio,
Ed io, e il silenzio, una razza straniera
qui naufragata in solitario esilio.

Poi si spezzò una trave, nella mia coscienza,
e sentii sprofondarmi giù, e poi più giù ancora,
ad ogni tuffo urtando contro un mondo,
e nella conoscenza tutto ebbe fine - allora.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2011 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (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
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2011-09-09
Line count: 20
Word count: 133

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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