The capitalization rules are strict and inflexible—until you experience the fluid beauty of an Emily Dickinson poem. Ninth graders test their existing knowledge of language arts conventions with the many bent grammar rules in "I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain." Additionally, they discuss Dickinson's use of repetition, order of events, and alternate forms of punctuation (or lack thereof). For homework, class members reflect on "The Tell-Tale Heart" studied earlier in the unit and compare the central ideas in Poe's short story to those in Dickinson's poem.