Literary Analysis Of I Heard A Fly Buzz

This simple, unplanned, fly interrupts the narrator’s perfectly planned out death. Dickinson writes about the fly, this uninvited guest, getting “Between the light – and me” (Dickinson 138). Before there is any time for anything else other than the distracting thought of the fly, “the Windows failed – and then I could not see to see” (Dickinson 138). Despite the plans that the narrator had for his or her death, an uninvited guest steals his or her last seconds from them. A seemingly insignificant fly pushes its way into the last stanza of Emily Dickenson’s poem. Though people have their expectations, and make their preparations and plans, and all may seem perfect, people cannot predict what will happen. Events will often happen that will not meet people’s expectations, and will more than likely throw off their plans and preparations. Even simple and small disruptions, akin to the “fly” in Emily Dickinson’s poem, can radically alter people’s plans for the direction of their lives. Dickinson’s poem illustrates the truth that o one is able to make a plan foolproof enough to escape complications and unexpected events, and “flies” will buzz their way into even the best-laid

Comparing and Contrasting Dickinson’s Poems, Because I Could Not Stop for Death and I Heard a Fly Buzz - When I Died

She hears a fly buzzing, an onomatopoeia, and through similes in line three and four she compares stillness in the room to “like the Stillness of the Air—Between Heaves of Storms.” The dynamic between the buzzing fly, hovering around the room signifying her death, and the tension of the room sets up the gravity of her situation. In the second stanza Dickinson uses synecdoche to illustrate the people around her mourning her death. She uses “eyes” and “breaths” as the main subject of the sentence. An interpretation of this is to blur the explicit mention of people and instead focus again on the senses or visual and auditory imagery.

This poem describes the moment when someone is about to die like “Because I could not Stop for Death”. Dickinson creates imagery when she makes you think about the room of where someone is dying. Dickinson uses a lot of poetic devices like imagery, diction, and onomatopoeia. Dickinson uses onomatopoeia with the line that states” I heard a fly buzz” the buzz would be onomatopoeia. Dickinson uses Diction in the first line she catches the reader’s attention with the word choice.

In Dickinson’s poem, “Because I could not stop for Death,” there is much impression in the tone, in symbols, and in the use of imagery that exudes creativity. One might undoubtedly agree to an eerie, haunting, if not frightening, tone in Dickinson’s poem. Dickinson uses controlling adjectives—“slowly” and “passed”—to create a tone that seems rather placid. For example, “We slowly drove—He knew no haste / …We passed the School … / We passed the Setting Sun—,” sets a slow, quiet, calm, and dreamy atmosphere (5, 9, 11,

One aspect of the poem that surprises readers is the relationship between the speaker and the fly .The first surprise involved in this relationship, is the combined revelation of the fly and the speaker’s death. As the poem begins, the speaker says to readers, “I heard a fly buzz-when I died” (Dickinson, 1). After reading that the speaker heard the buzz of a fly, readers may expect the death of the fly or more detail on the fly itself. However, the speaker hits readers by telling them that they heard the buzzing at the moment of their own death. Dickinson is immediately telling readers that her poem contains supernatural elements that link to the fly. This may come as a shock to readers, since they may ponder the significance of the fly within the speaker’s death, as it is not yet revealed by the end of the poem’s first line. The relationship between the speaker and the fly continues to be surprising, as the speaker describes the fly as the power that controls their life (the gateway between life and death). The speaker says:

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

Dickinson's view of death is investigated as a process and a beginning, not hopeless and sad. In "I Heard a Fly Buzz-when I Died", Dickinson explores the final moments before death. Dickinson says,"The Stillness in the Room-Was like the Stillness in the Air -Between the Heaves of Storm (3-4)." The atmosphere is portrayed as very still and tranquil, such as the moments before a storm. It is not dangerous or dark, but rather calm. A fly is used to symbolize the end of life, because they are associated with death and decay. Eyes are used in the poem to represent the windows to the soul, in this instance the eyes are closing in death. Dickinson says, "For that last onset-when the Kind be witnessed- In the room (7-8)." Implying that the Lord is

Emily Dickinson (1830-1836) is one of the greatest poets in American literature. Although she spent most of her life working in relative anonymity, her status rose sharply following her death and the subsequent publishing of much of her surviving work. Two of Dickinson’s most well-known poems are “Because I could not stop for Death—" and “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died”. I say known as because Dickinson never actually gave her poems proper titles. For this reason, the first lines of her poems have come to be used as a distinguishing reference. This paper will briefly analyze both poems in an attempt to both compare and measure their relative literary merits.

By analyzing the use of symbol and mood in “I heard a Fly Buzz,” Emily Dickinson reveals death is seemingly foreign, omitting significance, yet the acceptance encourages

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.

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)”.

In Emily Dickinson’s “I heard a Fly buzz”, the theme of individualism was expressed through the narrator deliberately

Emily Dickinson was one of the many famous American poets whose work was published in the 19th century. Her writing style was seen as unconventional due to her use of “dashes and syntactical fragments”(81), which was later edited out by her original publishers. These fragmented statements and dashes were added to give emphasis to certain lines and subjects to get her point across. Even though Emily Dickinson was thought to be a recluse, she wrote descriptive, moving poems on death, religion, and love. Her poems continue to create gripping discussions among scholars on the meaning behind her poems.