Instructor Child
English 1302.32
16 April 2012
Death
Emily Dickinson, who is now considered to be a great American poet, was not a well-known writer during her life in the mid-19th century. Although she was recognized for her work, most people thought it to be “eccentric” and unconventional. Her poems were “usually altered significantly” to fit the conventional rules of that particular era. She wrote “nearly 2,000 poems during her life time,” most of which were found after her death (Bloom). Her poems “Because death would not stop for me,” and “I heard a fly buzz” both have a reoccurring theme of death. Even though both poems share a similar theme, the poetic devices used and the overall tone of each poem are what sets them apart from one another. “Because death would not stop for me” is a rather interesting poem. It tells the story of someone riding to the end of their life in a carriage with no one “but [Death] and Immortality (lines 3-4).” While riding in this carriage, this person looks back on their life and experiences; recognizing that although he has lived a fulfilling life, he is not headed towards the end, but the beginning of “eternity.” The overall mood of this poem is a positive one. Death is accepted and the journey towards it was a peaceful one that “knew no haste (line 5).” The poem “I heard a fly buzz” is a bit different. This poem captures the “last thoughts and sensations” of someone on their deathbed (Aull). The last thing this person could think about before succumbing to death was the gross and “mundane” creature, the fly. “With this uncertain stumbling Buzz/Between the light and me/ and then the Windows failed/ and then I couldn’t see (lines 13-16)” This last stanza pretty much sums up the main idea of the poem. The idea of eternity is not a factor here. Death is going to come, and when it does that’s the end. The only thing standing between this person and “the light” is a fly, a fly that is buzzing around annoyingly in the last minutes of life, awaiting the same fate as the person in the poem. After reading both poems, a different mood is brought about by each. In “Because death would not stop for me,” there is obviously a more positive and reassuring tone. The first two lines, “Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me,” prove this point. Eagerly awaiting death and the beginning of eternity has no negative connotation to it whatsoever. On the actual journey to death, the narrator passes a school of children playing happily at recess, and “fields of Grazing Grain” with the sun setting over it (lines 9-12). These choices of words imply even further the idea of a happy and positive tone. The overall tone in “I heard a fly buzz” is the complete opposite. After reading the poem, feelings of unease and despair occur. The mentioning the fly, a gross and unappealing creature, several times may imply that the narrator felt their life as meaningless and unimportant as a fly’s would be. By referring to “will[ing] away keepsakes” and “signing away what portions be assignable” also adds a very negative connotation to the poem itself. The tones in these poems also ties into the overall viewpoint of each one. The positive and accepting nature of “Because Death would not stop for me” has an obvious view of death as a “peaceful process,” and a “leisurely ride” that will last forever (Chen). By ending the poem with the word “eternity,” it suggests that perhaps this poem, as a metaphor for life, goes on for “centuries… [that] feel shorter than a day (lines 21-22).” On the other hand in “I heard a fly buzz,” the overall tone of despair and pity lead to a viewpoint of a negative nature. When a person dies, that is it; nothing more and nothing less. The “window fail[ing]” and not being able to see anymore, suggests there is no longer vision of what happens next. No afterlife of eternity or anything is expressed in this poem. Prominent write Emily Dickinson is known for her work about the relations of death and immortality. In these two poems, the theme of death is the same, but the literary devices and word choice used to get the tone and overall viewpoint across to the reader differed.
Works Cited
Aull, Felice and Irene Chen. “I heard a buzz before I died.” New York: Avenal, 1896. Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson. 16 Apr 2012. http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=viewHYPERLINK "http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=9"&HYPERLINK "http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=9"annid=9
Bloom, Harold. "Emily Dickinson." New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008. 16 Apr 2012. http://books.google.com/books?id=hQxcNLDla6oC&pg=PA148&dq=how+many+poems+did+emily+dickinson+write&hl=en&sa=X&ei=08yLT5a4HoTGtgfFp4nsCQ&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=how%20many%20poems%20did%20emily%20dickinson%20write&f=false
Chen, Irene and Felice Aull. “Because I would not stop for death.” New York: Avenal, 1896. Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson. 16 Apr 2012. http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=viewHYPERLINK "http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=15"&HYPERLINK "http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=15"annid=15
Cited: Aull, Felice and Irene Chen. “I heard a buzz before I died.” New York: Avenal, 1896. Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson. 16 Apr 2012. http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=viewHYPERLINK "http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=9"&HYPERLINK "http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=9"annid=9 Bloom, Harold. "Emily Dickinson." New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008. 16 Apr 2012. http://books.google.com/books?id=hQxcNLDla6oC&pg=PA148&dq=how+many+poems+did+emily+dickinson+write&hl=en&sa=X&ei=08yLT5a4HoTGtgfFp4nsCQ&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=how%20many%20poems%20did%20emily%20dickinson%20write&f=false Chen, Irene and Felice Aull. “Because I would not stop for death.” New York: Avenal, 1896. Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson. 16 Apr 2012. http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=viewHYPERLINK "http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=15"&HYPERLINK "http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=15"annid=15
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