Is a madman really aware of his madness? Writers Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson share a common theme of madness in their writings of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain." Dickinson's poem is much shorter than Poe's story, showing the narrative in different ways with much the same process. Poe writes as the narrator discusses his events with an old man, including action, dialogue, theme, and conflict. Dickinson, however, only uses the narrator to show his thoughts and not what is actually happening outside his mind. The two speakers experience a similar plot, proving that the two pieces are comparable. Insanity is defined differently by most people. Madness says one thing, unawareness says another. There are also multiple definitions of the word within one dictionary entry. The state of mental illness is the best way to represent the madness suffered by the narrators of Poe and Dickinson. You from Dickinson described an abnormal sensation, not typically experienced by sane beings. Lines six through eight of the poem describing: “A service, like a drum – kept beating – beating – until I thought my mind was going numb.” He explained that his mind was becoming numb, clearly not perceived normally by people. If this numbing had been a normal action, one would expect that it would have been mentioned. Poe's narrator stated at the beginning of the story, paragraph one, that he had been accused of being mad. Question the reader as if he were the accuser. With no feedback from the reader, he continues by saying “Now here's the thing. You think I'm crazy. Crazy people know nothing. But you should have seen me.”, in paragraph three. If there was a dialogue between the narrator and another for... middle of the paper......n seems to be the only thing holding her together, and once she breaks, so does she. The end of the poem translates into an ending of his knowledge, “And he finished knowing – then-”. At the end of both writings, the narrators' self-awareness and realization explain their final actions. Self-discovery is the primary way to become aware of issues such as madness. Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson shared a common theme of madness in their writings of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain", explored by their narrators. If someone is crazy, it can be shown and discovered by other people, but if they are not open to the realization then they will not know that they are crazy. They can doubt other people all they want, as Poe's narrator did, but that won't change the facts. If a person's mind is not open, he will not know who or what he really is.