Emily Dickinson’s ‘I heard a fly buzz when I died’ describes the speakers moment of during death with is ruined by a fly impairing her vision of the moment of death or the ‘light’. The speaker is with their family in a room for the preparation of the moment when the speaker passes away.
The tone of the poem is dreamy, languid and almost completely relaxed. It is almost as if the speaker a ghost in the dreamy relaxed manner the speaker conveys their thoughts and recollections. This complete relaxation builds suspense throughout the poem. “Between the Heaves of Storm”. This image is depicting the eye of the storm where it is completely still and tense. This phrase is meant to build anticipation for the climax which is the fly blocking the view of the mystery of after death. The tone slightly shifts in the last stanza to despair due to powerlessness of the speaker in their situation.
The images and symbols in this poem are very significant to understanding it, such as the King or the storm. The King is a very mysterious symbol. “When the King be witnessed-in his Power-”.The King in this line is representing the king of the afterlife, like maybe Jesus or God. This interpretation is so due to the fact that Dickinson was a very religious person with her best friend being a priest. The storm is a strong both image and symbol. “Between the Heaves of Storm-” The use of a storm represents the eye of the storm where it is still and tense. Same as the reader, we can assume the reader has being sick for a while due to the relatives being around and the possessions being distributed. Therefore the reader has gone through horrible sickness and is now calm and peaceful just before their death, which is the back half of the storm.
Dickinson’s poem diction plays a large role in expressing her message. From the very first line diction features are prominent “I heard a Fly buzz”. This feature of onomatopoeia is depicting the irritation of the fly in such an important moment like death. The word, which that captures the readers attention out of all word in the poem is ‘interposed’. “There interposed a Fly”. The word interposed is used to give image-buzzing creature destroying the peaceful deathbed scene. The fly is noisy, irritating and a serious inconvenience, which is exactly what interposed in this poem portrays.
The rhythm in Dickinson’s poem is incredibly particular on the other hand rhyming is almost not a feature in the poem. Dickinson’s syllable arrangement is impeccable with six in the second and forth lines, and eight in the first and third lines of each stanza. This gives the poem a sooth flowing reading, which enhances to the languid tone and mood. The rhyme in the poem is in half rhymes. The half rhymes feature throughout the first four stanzas in an ‘ABCB’ scheme and in the last stanza they are full rhymes. Dickinson’s has done this as a sacrifice to use the best words, which fit the syllable structure. Dickinson has also done this to add to the seriousness of the moment.
The symbolic meaning of the poem is very mysterious and undefined. A possible interpretation is that life is full of distractions that can divide our attention even in the most critical of moments. “And then the windows failed-”. This is a symbol of the eyes closing before the speaker gets to see the light. This could also be a symbol of the speaker seeing her soul. In the old testament of the bible windows was an expression for soul and Dickenson was very religious. Dickenson is representing how humans can’t focus their full attention on something there are always distractions that sway our attention no matter how hard we try.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
“Much Madness is divinest Sense” 24. Dickinson compares what two ideas in this poem? 25. Defining madness as the “divinest Sense” is an example of what literary device? “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died” 26. How does the speaker react to death? 27. What does the speaker mean in the lines “I…
- 561 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In the first stanza Dickinson writes, “Because I could not stop for Death- / He kindly stopped for me-” (Dickinson 1-2). Right away it appears as if the death was unexpected and there were no signs of it coming to the person. These theme continues through Dickinson’s poem as she takes this person through the experience of death in a carriage ride with Death itself. Through the carriage ride there is no sense of danger as Dickinson writes, “I had put away / My labor and my leisure to, / For His Civility-” (Dickinson 6-8). As they ride together there is a familiarity between them as if they are friends enjoying the presence of each…
- 653 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In Emily Dickinson’s poem “I am afraid to own a Body” the speaker primarily uses sound to posit the overall theme of the poem. More specifically, she uses incoherent and disjointed repetition (notably alliteration and assonance) and slant rhymes that scatter the poem but do not fall into any pattern to suggest her own inability to conform to expected or desired patterns of being a human. The background imagery of inheritance to which the poem alludes complements these expected patterns.…
- 681 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Emily Dickinson's poem “1593,” describes an intense storm similar to a hurricane. The subject initially appears to be a “Wind” as presented in the first line of the poem, but the by looking at the poem as a whole this wind appears to be only one part of the larger storm, which also seems to present the powerful and destructive force of nature. The language of the poem presents a certain amount of ambiguity concerning the perspective of the speaker towards this storm. Through diction and connotation, personification, and form, the speaker’s fear for the storm and its destruction become clear, yet at the same time the speaker appears to be awestruck and mesmerized by the sheer power of nature in relation to humankind.…
- 780 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Emily Dickinson’s main purpose in poem 355 is to describe an indefinable depression. She creates a melancholy persona to depict the chaos and despair she feels because of her condition. Her poem is structured around her uncertainty towards her mental state. Dickinson, in the first two stanzas, eliminates possibilities to what she may be feeling. She analyzes that “it was not death”, “it was not night”, “it was not frost”, “nor fire”. The poem appeals to the human sense of touch, as Dickinson compares tangible sensations that the body normally experiences to her tumultuous emotions. In the third stanza, Dickinson synthesizes all of the possibilities she eradicated in the previous two stanzas, ominously stating that her condition “tasted like them all”. The narrator is unable to distinguish her feelings from one another, leading the reader to conclude that she is in a chaotic state of mind. She compares her condition to a funeral, both of which evoke death. In the fourth stanza, Dickinson continues to explore her persona’s dark psyche. The narrator experiences terror and despair to the point where she “could not breathe.” Her only “key” to escape this punishment is to be able to understand what she is feeling and why…
- 518 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Death is an odd thing, humans do not know what waits for them the moment their hearts stop beating, they do not know where they’ll end up going- but death is a common topic. Whether it be in movies or writing, death has made its impression on the world; especially on poet Emily Dickinson. Dickinson’s poems, “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died” and “Because I could not stop for Death” focus on a consistent theme of death and her own curiosity on what it might be like to die herself. Dickinson’s life and use of the archetypal device have a connection to helping fuel her dreary, death revolving, poetry.…
- 511 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
There is a multitude of poems written with the theme of death, be it in a positive light or negative. Some poets write poems that depict Death as a spine-chilling inevitable end, others hold respect for this natural occurrence. In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death”, diction and personification is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s cordial friendship with Death.…
- 429 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
II. Dickinson uses imagery in “I Heard a Fly Buzz when I Died” to set the tone for this poem.…
- 453 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The author uses many literary elements in the short story. Some are personification, imagery, and similes. Personification is stated in the line that follows: "she was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression," This element shows how strongly she is in repression. It makes the reader actually feel how depressing her life with her husband was. She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. "The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves." Imagery is portrayed in these sentences. By using imagery, the author can help the reader see and feel the environment the character is in. This helps the reader understand the poem on a next level. "She carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory". The author uses simile to describe how calm and happy she is now. She really feels free of all negative vibes now.…
- 510 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Every piece of literature, whether it be a short poem or lengthy novel, has a meaning behind it. Sometimes these meanings are obvious, but ultimately, it is up to the reader what he or she chooses to take out of the reading. Emily Dickinson was a famous poet known for combining rhetorical devices with universal themes to connect with her audience as well as display her own feelings about different aspects in life. In her poem “The Soul’s Storm,” Dickinson utilizes different elements of nature to reflect the emotional despair of facing/overcoming the obstacles of everyday life.…
- 390 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Death is a key theme in much of Dickinson's poetry. It is explored in depth in poems 'Because I Could Not Stop for Death' (712) and 'I heard a fly buzz' (465). 712 dramatises the conflict between a life and the peaceful eternity of death. Her close focus on death in these poems allows the reader to see death from different perspectives, in 712 death is almost portrayed as a welcoming gentlemen yet in 465 death appears to be an uncomfortable and almost claustrophobic experience.…
- 1104 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Throughout this poem, the narrator uses imagery by describing his fear of death and the unexpected of death. In the first stanza, lines 1-2, “I work all day, and get half drunk at night, waking at four to soundless dark,” show what he does on his daily basis. He tell people what he is doing without feeling shame, “ work all day” you can picture him working at factory doing the same thing all over again, meanwhile he come and get “half drunk.” It seem like the narrator can’t sleep and he is depress. His depressing phrases, he begins to describe what is outside of his house when stepping into the society of death. In lines 3-4, “In time the curtain…till then I see… Unresting death,” he goes from light behind his curtain, the brightness he faces in the morning when going to work and the death road along the way. He emphasizes the “unresting death,” explaining that he will soon die and he makes all thoughts impossible.…
- 682 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
As another first person recollection of death, the poem details a seemingly normal scene of sorrowful friends and family silently surrounding a woman on her deathbed. However, a single peculiarity blatantly evidences itself. In the story of her own death, the speaker includes a disturbing memory of a noisy fly disrupting the peace preceding her passing. Immediately after describing this bothersome insect, Dickinson incorporates an eerie portrayal of her speaker's death: "And then the Windows failed - and then / I could not see to see" (Dickinson). By depicting a first person account of death, Dickinson attempts to provide some thought-provoking insight into the actual death…
- 739 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Emily Dickenson’s poem “I heard a fly buzz- when I died- “is a great example of don’t judge a book by its cover. In “I heard a fly buzz-as I died”, Emily Dickinson uses symbols, imagery, similes and themes to show what it can be like when someone is dying. When you first read the title u probably think that the poem will be about the fly and her dying but as a matter of fact the poem’s title is an oxymoron. The oxymoronic “I heard a fly buzz when I died” is in the sense a death poem about life.…
- 812 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Leiter, Sharon. " 'I heard a Fly buzz—when I died— '." Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom 's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCED058&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 8,…
- 1669 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays