I Felt a Funeral in My Brain by Emily Dickenson

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I Felt a Funeral in My Brainby Emily Dickenson

• 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

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• 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

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• And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
• And I dropped down, and down
• And hit a World, at every plunge,
• And Finished knowing then

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Which is correct?

• Dickinson describes the sound as A service, like
  a drum / Kept beating beating, till I thought
  / My mind was going numb (6-8).
• Dickinson describes the sound as
• A service, like a drum
• Kept beating beating, till I thought
• My mind was going numb (6-8).

• 1 is correct because quoting one to three lines
  is not indented also blocked quotes dont have
  quotation marks

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Quoting Poetry

• Use quotation marks for titles of short poems
• and italicize longer poems, such as the epic poem
  Beowulf or Eliots The Waste Land.

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Quoting One to Three lines

• My Mind was going numb describes how Dickinson
  felt during her illness (8).
• Dickinson describes the sound as A Service, like
  a Drum- / Kept beating - beating - till I thought
  / My Mind was going numb (6-8).

• Use the forward slash to indicate line breaks
• One space before slash, one space after slash
• Parenthetical citations always go at the end of
  the sentence no matter where the quotation is
  located.

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Quoting four or more lines

• Dickinson describes her mental anguish during her
  
• illness as a metaphorical funeral
• I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
• And Mourners to and fro
• Kept treading - treading - till it seemed
• That Sense was breaking through.(1-4)

do not use quotation marks period goes before
parenthesis maintain double spacing if a line
is too long to fit within the right margin, it
should be indented an additional three spaces on
the next line
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Use an ellipsis ... to indicate deleted
sections

• Dickinson says the funeral service was like
• a Drum / ... / My mind was going numb (6-8).

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Use of brackets to clarify references within
quotations

• Dickinson says And when they the mourners all
  were seated, / A Service, ... / Kept beating-
  beating (5-7).
• Whats wrong?No lead-in and thus weak blending.
  This would have IQ (isolated quotation) next to
  it!

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Use of brackets to integrate your quotations into
grammatically correct sentences

• During her illness, Dickinson describes the
  incessant beating beating until she felt
  her mind was going numb and there would be no
  reprieve to the destruction of her psyche.
• Whats wrong?No citation.

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Additional Information

• To emphasize a passage you may italicize, or bold
  it, but you must add (italics mine) or (emphasis
  added) in parentheses after the passage
  emphasized.

• "My job is the best job (italics mine) there is"
  (Gates 147).
• "My job is the best job (emphasis added) there
  is" (Gates 147).

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• If there is an obvious error in the quoted
• passage, add sic (Latin meaning "thus")
• after the error
• "The theraputic sic remarks upset the patient
  immensely" (Morley 24).
• theraputic is correctly spelled therapeutic

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Avoiding Sexist Language(Using Inclusive
Language)

• Writing in non-sexist, non-biased way is both
  ethically sound and effective (owl.english.purdue.
  edu).
• Instead of Each student must have his notebook
  with him in class.
• Use All students must have notebooks with them
  in class.

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• Exercise
• 1. Instead of A Senator who cannot finish his
  term of office
• Use A Senator who cannot finish the term of
  office
• 2. Instead of Each student must hand in his
  homework on Thursday.
• Use Each student must hand in the assigned
  homework on Thursday.

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• 3. Instead of A truck driver should plan his
  route carefully.
• Use A truck driver should plan the travel route
  carefully.
• 4. Instead of A student should meet with his
  advisor.
• Use A student should meet with his or her
  advisor.

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• Dickinsons works have had considerable influence
  on modern poetry. In I Felt a Funeral in My
  Brain, Dickinson uses dashes in all but the
  third stanza. As well, she capitalizes nouns in
  every stanza and almost every line. For example,
  her use of metaphorical language and noun
  capitalization is exemplified when she writes
• And when they all were seated,
• A Service, like a Drum
• Kept beating beating till I thought
• My Mind was going numb. (5-8)

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• Her frequent use of dashes, sporadic
  capitalization of nouns, and unconventional
  metaphors have contributed to her reputation as
  one of the most innovative poets of 19th-century
  American literature.

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• Topic Sentence (TS)
• Concrete Detail For example, introduce quote
  .. .. (parenthetical citation).
• Commentary Your thoughts explaining why the
  quote is important to your argument how it
  supports the topic, what the meaning is