I Heard A Fly Buzz

Emily Dickinson's poem "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died" is centralized on the events of death and is spoken through the voice of the dying person. The poem explores both the meaning of life and death through the speaker and the significant incidents at the time of near death that the speaker notices. Many of Dickinson's poems contain a theme of death that searches to find meaning and the ability to cope with the inevitable. This poem is no exception to this traditional Dickinson theme; however its unusual comparisons and language about death set it apart from how one would view a typically tragic event.

In opposition to “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, Dickinson published her work of “I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died”. In this particular piece of literature, the author disbeliefs in an afterlife. In this poem, a woman is lying on bed with her family surrounding her, waiting for the woman to pass away. The woman, however, is anxiously waiting for “…the kings”, meaning an omnipotent being. Finally when the woman dies, her eyes or windows, as referred in the poem, “could not see to see “. When the woman passes away, she couldn’t see any angels or gods as she expected would be there, but instead, she is fluttered into nothingness. She isn’t traveling to an afterlife as she had expected to unlike in the poem of “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. The woman finds out that death is a simple end to everything.

Analysis of I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died and Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson

When Emily Dickinson was still in her teenage years, she began to experience pain all around her. Life and death became a prevalent topic as Ryan introduces, “Her bedroom from the age of sixteen to twenty-four overlooked the village graveyard; repeatedly, in the close community of Amherst, she was privy to the loss of children, parents, spouses, inmates”. By the time she was older, her poetry was very eloquent and thought out. In her poem “I heard a Fly Buzz- when I died-”, also referred to as 465, she demonstrated her abilities to think and express feelings well beyond her years (15). Through the course of the poem one reading without analysis will understand that a fly buzzed in the room while the narrator encountered death. However,

Emily Dickinson’s poem “I heard a fly buzz when I died” is a reflection on what happens when one dies. In the poem, the speaker is waiting to die. It seems as though they are expecting something spectacular to happen at the moment of their death. This spectacular event they are expecting does not happen.

Emily Dickinson was fascinated by death and immortality; in her poem "I Heard a Fly Buzz-- When I Died--" she reveals her insight on a shared but unknown experience. A speaker, who is describing his or her death from beyond the grave, narrates the poem, which can be interpreted with either heavily Christian in its symbolism, or as the literal description of the dying experience. Dickinson uses the poetry elements of symbolism, imagery and point of view to give us an ironic poem, about dying and the afterlife, which leaves the reader unsure of what's on the other side of death. There is a disagreement in the literary world over the meaning of the fly, its symbolism and relationship to the speaker in the poem (Ruby 139). Dickinson might have used the fly in order to showcase that the dying speaker was still aware of the physical world but his or her senses were fading as the body surrenders to death "With Blue--uncertain stumbling Buzz--" (Line 13).

In the poem “I heard a fly buzz” Dickinson presents death in a way that shows that there is no afterlife because it centers on the process that happens after her own death. According to the poem, this process leads to the feeling of nothingness. The feeling and “air” in the poem reflects the rotting of the body and the emptiness that comes about with death. In the poem, the dead body is surrounded by total silence as people have stopped crying and even the wind has stopped blowing. The speaker seems to be expecting death because she says,

Two of Emily Dickinson’s poems, “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died” and “Because I could not stop for Death” are both written about life’s stopping point, death. Although the poems are written by the same poet, both poems view death in a different manner. Between the two poems, one views death as having an everlasting life while the other anticipates everlasting life, only to realize it does not exist. While both poems are about death, both poems also illustrate that the outcome of death is a mysterious experience that can only be speculated upon with the anticipation of everlasting life.

“I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died” is more ridged and scary when it comes to explaining death. The narrator is looking at death from the afterlife while seeing the more frightening side of death. This poem’s setting stays entirely in the room. In the beginning of the poem, the fly is disturbing the “stillness in the room” (Belasco 1331). The stillness in the room means she is dying alone with no family or friends. The start of the poem explains how there was no peace in the death by comparing it to a “storm.” It can be felt that the speaker is waiting for her death as they can hear the fly buzz like when you hear a clock tick as you wait for time to pass. Since the character has to wait for her departure, it shows she is experiencing a slow death. The fly buzzing plays an important role because it shows the advancement of death. Dickinson shows the progression of death by enhancing the last sense noticed before death when she focuses on hearing the smallest details in her surroundings. As the narrator is nearing her death, she can hear things that the normal average individual wouldn't notice. The fly distracts the narrator’s final moments and upsets her peaceful death. The earthly fly in the end stands between the narrator and the calm spiritual aspect of death. In the

I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died –, written by Emily Dickinson, is an interesting poem in which the poet deals with the subject of death in a doubtful yet both optimistic and pessimistic ways. The central theme of the poem is the doubtfulness and the reality of death. The poem is written in a very unique point of view; the narrator who is speaking is already dead. By using symbols, irony, oxymoron, imagery and punctuation, the poet greatly succeeds in showing the reality of death and her own doubtful feelings towards time after death.

Emily Dickinson once said, “Dying is a wild night and a new road.” Some people welcome death with open arms while others cower in fear when confronted in the arms of death. Through the use of ambiguity, metaphors, personification and paradoxes Emily Dickinson still gives readers a sense of vagueness on how she feels about dying. Emily Dickinson inventively expresses the nature of death in the poems, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280)”, “I Heard a fly Buzz—When I Died—(465)“ and “Because I could not stop for Death—(712)”.

Emily Dickinson’s poem titled “I heard a Fly Buzz” is a nineteenth century poem where the speaker, who is speaking from his or her grave, is describing a painless yet horrific death experience in which family and friends have gathered to witness the passing.

Emily Dickinson's poem "I heard a Fly buzz- when I died" central theme of death is depicted not only through poetic devices, but also through the structuring of her poem. From the way that Dickinson's poem does not have a title to the rhyme scheme of her poem I believe that everything is done deliberately to guide the reader to feel the insecurity that comes with life. Dickinson's choice of words such as "uncertain" and "stumble" support this idea that even at crucial moments there are always going to be things we can't control such as the "interposed fly." At critical moments in people's lives such as being on a deathbed, we are often going to experience mental distractions that remind us that we are human. Dickinson is quick to bring to her

Gothic style literature, a style of literature characterized by gloomy, grotesque and mysterious that are often accompanied by violent or startling imagery is the theme for most of Emily Dickinson’s creation. The authenticity of Emily Dickinson’s death obsessed poems demonstrates a profound emotion that projects a revolting persona. This persona is visible through her poem: I heard a Fly buzz – when I died. Dickinson’s poem I heard a Fly buzz – when I died is a perfect exemplar of Dickinson’s revolting persona.