Personification: I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

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

From what I've read of Dickinson's work, it seems that one style tool frequently used by her is personification. The funeral in her brain does not center on the death of a person, but rather her mind and sense. Though they are portrayed as a person, they are not actually. Dickinson's use of personification enables her to compare the event of losing her mind to a funeral, which in turn allows the reader to comprehend the seriousness and eventfulness of it. The rest of her brain stood by and watched it go. It appeared that "Sense was breaking through", but it was really just her lack of realism and admittance of the actual circumstances. Like we want to deny the death of loved ones, Dickinson tries to deny the death of her own sanity. The beating of the drum tells her that their is no going back. The death of her sanity becomes more and more assured with every thought and the drum assures the death of the personified mind. Dickinson frantically tries to save her mind before it is buried. But once the deed is done, she stands silent and solitary, knowing it is finally over. Her mind is dead. Her sanity is gone. With the breaking of the last straw of sanity or rather "a Plank in Reason", she plunges into insanity.