Reflection Of A Poem In The First Day's Night

In the second stanza, the speaker compares the service to the beat of a drum (Dickinson, n.d.a). This is reflective of a depressive episode because a person experiencing a depressive episode may feel “slowed down” with little energy (“Bipolar disorder,” 2016). The service in the poem moving to the beat of a drum, then, is reflective of the lethargic feeling a person with SAD may experience. This stanza also goes along with the “unfeeling” or “empty” aspect of depression (“Bipolar disorder, 2016). Typically, a funeral is a “celebration of life” which does include tears, but also has a eulogy and emphasizes the person’s positive attributes. In the third stanza, the casket is lifted and the church bells ring. The speaker describes the “[Boots]

This poem differs from the previous two poems because it focuses solely on Dickinson’s mania, and goes inside of the speaker’s brain to understand what the speaker’s “madness” feels like (Dickinson, n.d.b). In the first two stanzas, the speaker describes the “terrible” thing she endured, and is “grateful” the day is over (Dickinson, n.d.b). In order to cope with her feelings from the terrible day, the speaker decides to write (Dickinson, n.d.b). One of the symptoms of mania is having “a lot of energy” and having “increased activity level” (“Bipolar disorder,” 2016). Even after her difficult day, the speaker has an urge to write about her feelings instead of sleeping which signals increased activity levels consistent with mania (“Bipolar disorder, 2016). The speaker’s experience is also representative of Dickinson’s because, as previously discussed, her first experience with mania was marked by a dramatic increase in productivity. Experts note the “flood of poems” Dickinson produced in 1862, the year she experienced “The Terror” (McDermott,

Her “brain begun to laugh” and she “mumbled – like a fool –” (Dickinson, n.d.b). These lines and this poem as a whole are significantly more straightforward compared to the poems previously analyzed. At this point, there is some other being inside the speaker making itself known; it is as if she has become a completely different person (Dickinson, n.d.b). The shift to the disease showing its true colors beyond control of the speaker’s energy and emotions is reflective of the “new kind of thinking” scholars believe Dickinson underwent as a result of her “bipolar trait” (Vedantam, 2001). Dickinson is much more specific about how she feels in this poem compared to the other poems. In this poem, Dickinson seems to have lots to say, which could be due to racing thoughts, a common symptom of mania. (“Bipolar disorder,” 2016). Because of this, Dickinson may have had an easier time explaining her manic episodes compared to when she tried to write about her feelings during her depressive episodes. This, in turn, allowed Dickinson to give more details about her feelings in this poem compared to her other poems. The imagery in this poem is less complicated compared to There’s a Certain Slant of Light, and there is no extended metaphor like the one present in I Felt a Funeral in my Brain. Though still detailed, this poem marks a clear shift in Dickinson’s writing to a more straightforward