Emily Dickinson has a distinctive writing style. Dickinson's use of hyphens and "randomly" placed capital letters throughout her work gives her a unique style that is contradictory to her time. Many believe that it was his genius that caused this, while still others believe that it was his illness that contributed to his distinctive writing style. Lyndall Gordon's biography “offers an important revelation: evidence that Dickinson suffered from epilepsy. The author makes her case partly through the prescriptions she received from Dickinson (the papers still survive) and reinterprets poems such as "I felt a Cleaving in my Mind" to describe the poet's condition. He writes that "illness is a more sensible reason for isolation than disappointed love." Epilepsy carried with it a stigma and Gordon explains that because the diagnosis was 'rarely uttered, much less put on paper, there was little chance of explicit evidence'” (Ciuraru). “Gordon makes a convincing case for the link between the visual and cerebral distortions of epilepsy and Dickinson's extraordinary language” (Showalter). By examining the imagery, diction, symbolism, and tone of the poems “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain,” “I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind,” and “Pain,” the reader can decipher the characteristics of Emily's illness put into evidence in his mind. writing. Through the use of imagery, diction, and symbolism in these three poems, the reader can get a sense of the pain and upheaval Dickinson may have felt due to her illness. In “I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind” the speaker talks about how “my brain had split” (2). The word "Brain" (2) is capitalized to add emphasis to the word. Having the brain “split” (2) gives the illusion that the brain is actually split in two. Making this actually happen means…half of the card…is experimenting. Pain is described as “an element of emptiness” (1). “Emptiness” is nothingness. “He cannot remember” (2), he cannot remember a time when he was not there. It's hard and difficult to live with. The speaker cannot remember “When it began-Or if there was/A time when it wasn't-” (3-4). Illness has become such a big part of the speaker's life that he can't remember a time when it didn't happen. The speaker "has no future" (5) with the pain of the disease. The illusion of infinity with illness and pain is given and reiterated in the next line with “It is infinite to contain-“(6). The only future the speaker has is “New Times of Pain” (8). Since all words are capitalized, the reader is given the feeling of finality. That this is all there is, nothing more than pain. The dash causes the reader to pause and digest this information and its purpose.