Hear a Fly Buzz -

¶ … Hear a Fly Buzz - When I Died by Emily Dickinson. Specifically, it will explain the meaning of fly in the poem. The fly in this poem literally represents death and dying in the poem, and the ultimate disappointment and permanence of death.

This poem is disturbing and yet interesting. The poem is written as if an already dead person is still able to see what is happening around her after she dies. She sees the mourners, and realizes that her will has divvied up her belongings among them because they are no longer of any use to her. The people were sad at her death, but now they have stopped crying and are ready to see a miracle in the room. They expect to see the King, or God, come down and take her away. They do not seem to notice the fly in the room, but the narrator does, and the fly becomes the central character of the poem.

The narrator realizes that her life has already become unimportant and the others in the room will move on with their lives now that she is gone. They will use her things and perhaps think of her, but she will be no more important than the fly buzzing around the room. This shows the fly represents death, but also represents how insignificant our lives really are in the scheme of time and place. Even the most important people pass away and are forgotten eventually.

What is so sad and disturbing about the poem is the fact that the narrator has expected a much more glorious passing, and all she finally remembers is a fly, buzzing around the room. She sees an annoying fly rather than God, or the King, or a glorious route to heaven. Dickenson writes, "And Breaths were gathering firm / for that last Onset -- when the King / Be witnessed -- in the Room -" (Dickenson). This shows that she expected death to become somehow much more important than life, and the fly shows that it is not at all. It also shows that she is not worth a holy visit; she is just another person who has died that day. This also shows that her expectations and assumptions were larger than life and did not really have anything to do with reality. It says that she had a high opinion of herself and her importance, and that she was disappointed that her grand dreams did not come true. She expected a lot more from death than it actually delivered, and she feels cheated somehow.

It is ironic that she feels death is such a grand experience because most people fear death. She seems almost to have welcomed it, but when it happened, the fly took her attention from everything else and eventually blocked the light, leading to the real, absolute experience of death, which is nothing and nothingness. Dickenson writes, "With Blue -- uncertain stumbling Buzz -- / Between the light -- and me -- / and then the Windows failed -- and then / I could not see to see -" (Dickenson). This shows the fly is death, blocking the light of day, but it also shows that death is just blackness and nothing. This adds to the sad, depressing nature of the poem.