Emily Dickinson's I Heard A Fly Buzz-When I Died
Just some general first impressions/notes on Dickinson's poems.
"I heard a fly buzz - When I died"
Macabre tone. The poem could mean one of two things: Either she is at someone's funeral and seeing a fly or there is a fly buzzing as she herself is on her deathbed.
The room itself is "as still as the air" between the "heaves" of a storm. People around her crying presumably represent the "heaves of a storm" breaking the stillness. The eyes around her had cried themselves out, and the breaths were firming themselves for “that last Onset,” the moment when, metaphorically, “the King / Be witnessed—in the Room—.” The speaker made a will and “Signed away / What portion of me be / Assignable—” and at that moment, she heard the fly.
The last paragraph describes her final moments, before she "could not see to see"
Like most of her poems from what I've seen, the form consists of 3 stanzas with 4 lines in each.
The entire poem struck this odd note with me, how Dickinson is at one of, if not the most important moment in her life, and instead she focuses on meaningless, minute details. Perhaps this is a commentary on how we all focus on the meaningless details to escape …show more content…
Feet represent movement, clearly. Dickinson is talking about one of two things: Either our ability to try and cope after a great pain but we instead live our lives in this "mechanical" movement, a rut perhaps, OR that she is further emphasizing how dehumanized we become through pain. She uses the line "a quartz contentment", which is an oxymoron. Quartz is the most common mineral to be found on Earth, however what emotion does quartz bear? None, it is cold and empty "like a stone". In my opinion, Dickinson is trying to emphasize that we all seek out empty happiness or "quartz contentment"'s, and this is why we allow ourselves to live with "feet" that are "mechanical". We live this mechanical life with its routines in search of "quartz
"I heard a fly buzz - When I died"
Macabre tone. The poem could mean one of two things: Either she is at someone's funeral and seeing a fly or there is a fly buzzing as she herself is on her deathbed.
The room itself is "as still as the air" between the "heaves" of a storm. People around her crying presumably represent the "heaves of a storm" breaking the stillness. The eyes around her had cried themselves out, and the breaths were firming themselves for “that last Onset,” the moment when, metaphorically, “the King / Be witnessed—in the Room—.” The speaker made a will and “Signed away / What portion of me be / Assignable—” and at that moment, she heard the fly.
The last paragraph describes her final moments, before she "could not see to see"
Like most of her poems from what I've seen, the form consists of 3 stanzas with 4 lines in each.
The entire poem struck this odd note with me, how Dickinson is at one of, if not the most important moment in her life, and instead she focuses on meaningless, minute details. Perhaps this is a commentary on how we all focus on the meaningless details to escape …show more content…
Feet represent movement, clearly. Dickinson is talking about one of two things: Either our ability to try and cope after a great pain but we instead live our lives in this "mechanical" movement, a rut perhaps, OR that she is further emphasizing how dehumanized we become through pain. She uses the line "a quartz contentment", which is an oxymoron. Quartz is the most common mineral to be found on Earth, however what emotion does quartz bear? None, it is cold and empty "like a stone". In my opinion, Dickinson is trying to emphasize that we all seek out empty happiness or "quartz contentment"'s, and this is why we allow ourselves to live with "feet" that are "mechanical". We live this mechanical life with its routines in search of "quartz