Emily Dickinson Poem 465 Analysis

In her poem, #465, Emily Dickinson’s speaker allows the reader to experience an ironic reversal of conventional expectation of the moment of death in the mid-1800s, as the speaker finds nothing but an eerie darkness at the end of her life. Although the speaker reflects upon her life from beyond the grave, she remembers her final moments in the still room. In fact, the speaker recalls the room, “like the Stillness in the Air — / Between the Heaves of Storm” (3-4). Here, the speaker compares the aura of the room in which she is dying to the calmness before a large storm. The speaker anticipates her death to be a monumental event (whereas she ascends to heaven or some form of afterlife). Her final moments appear silent and tranquil due to the fact the speaker, as well as her accompanying mourners,
For instance, the speaker writes her will and signs away, “What portions of [her] be / Assignable” (10-11). Certainly, the speaker gives her material possessions to others since she will no longer need them. However, the speaker has not donated all that she has; her soul is reserved for the Lord. In this moment, the speaker discards her worldly possessions, which makes readers question if the speaker truly lives a model Christian lifestyle. Is the speaker (her soul) worthy of an omnipotent being? The intervening fly suggests that the speaker is not. Significantly, during the listing of her will, the speaker turns away from her mourners and sees it: “There interposed a Fly” (12). Here, the fly hovers above the speaker, preventing her from the heavens above. Though the fly appears insignificant, it symbolizes the trivial aspects of life. The fly is purely a small detail but develops the possibility of nothing but an end after death. The smallness of the fly illustrates the small moment associated with death; an ending comes and life ceases. This ending of darkness conveys an anti-climatic