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¶ … Emily Dickinson's poem, "I heard a Fly buzz -- when I died," the setting is the death bed of the speaker, in the nineteenth century, with family and friends gathered around. The line "The Stillness in the Room" eludes that it takes place indoors after the narrator has died. The background of the poem revolves around the preparations for death. The plot is the transition from life to death.
The speaker in the poem, the person who has just died, does not relay their gender or age. The line "I willed my Keepsakes -- Signed away" suggests that the narrator is old enough to have keepsakes and to sign a will. It is obvious that the speaker is observant, calm, aware, and at peace with the situation. Death and the buzz of a fly motivated the narrator to speak. The other characters in the poem are "The Eyes around," or family and friends of the narrator, and "The King," who is considered to be either God or death.
Emily Dickinson was an American poet, born in Massachusetts, in 1830. The gender of the poet does not seem to influence the content of the poem. During this particular historical period, the Women's suffrage movement was strong, religion...
They are explicitly gathered up in one phrase for the moment of death, with distinct Biblical overtones." (233).
The title of the poem, "I heard a Fly buzz -- when I died," alludes directly to the poem's main theme, the last moments of life fading into death. The poem is an answer to the question 'what happens when we die'. Dickinson has effectively reached her audience, conveying the overall purpose of the poem; a trivial, ironic response to dying instead of the typical profound moment many dream of. She wants the reader to feel the quickness of death and the oddity of its last moments.
Dickinson uses the line "And then the Windows failed -- and then I could not see to see" for a frame of reference to the transition into death. It is one of the most descriptive images of the poem. The image appeals to the speaker's physical and spiritual sense of sight as they are dying. The narrator…
Bibliography
Anderson, Charles R. Emily Dickinson's Poetry: Stairway of Surprise. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1960.
Bain, Robert. Whitman's & Dickinson's Contemporaries: An Anthology of their verse. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. 1996.
Barker, Wendy. Lunacy of Light: Emily Dickinson and the Experience of Metaphor. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. 1987.
Bianchi, Martha Dickinson. The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson. New York: Biblo and Tannen Publishers, Inc. 1971.
.. "I could not see to see" (from Dickinson, "465"). Words; phrases, and lines of poetry composed by Dickinson, within a given poem, are also typically set off, bookend-like (if not ruptured entirely at the center) by her liberal use of various punctuation "slices" (or perhaps "splices" is the better word) appearing most often in the form of either short and/or longer dashes (or combinations of these), e.g.: "-"; and/or
heard a Fly buzz" by Emily Dickinson In her poem "I heard a Fly buzz," Emily Dickinson explores the moment just before the death of the narrator, as she watches a fly buzz about in the final moments before sight fails her. In comparing the human experience to the buzzing-about of a fly in the face of a mortal curtain, Dickinson presents a simultaneously clinical and emotionally subjective consideration of
Diskenson Insight In Emily Dickenson's poetry we share images that she sees, and hew viewpoint is often a bit odd, but useful in showing us what she feels. She often splits herself into the seen and the one seeing, as if part of her can observe from outside. In her poems, Emily Dickenson often pauses time and observes very small things, such as a fly and then she focuses upon one
Death in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson In many of her poems Emily Dickinson explores the theme of death. Death is the ultimate experience and reveals the truth about the nature of God and the state of the human soul. Dickinson personifies death in guises, from suitor to tyrant, and her attitude toward death varies from poem to poem, drawing no absolute conclusion about death's nature. The poet portrays death
Emily graduated from high school and attended college for one year (Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary) which was fairly unusual for women at that time. She remained at home in her parents' house all her life, caring for her invalid mother and becoming increasingly reclusive. It is from this quiet reclusive lifestyle that the many poems for which Emily Dickinson is so well-known today sprang, among them "Because I could
The fly is a gruesome image because flies gather around decaying corpses. However, while this image is startling, it is still shocking that the poet is not more in shock of dying, of being dead, or witnessing just a fly upon her death. The poem consists of four stanzas, which include slant rhymes on the second and fourth lines. The lines alternate between six and eight syllables. Dashes in the