Lack Of Sound In Emily Dickinson's 'I Heard A Fly Buzz'

In “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died -”, by Emily Dickinson, the hyphens are used throughout the poem to emphasize the breaths taken by the person on their deathbed. In the first stanza, the person is dying in a silent room. The speaker describes the setting, “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died -/Stillness in the Room/Was like the Stillness in the Air-”. (2-3, Dickinson). There is a lack of sound in the room but then there is this buzzing of a fly which is the exact opposite of the lack of sound. As the speaker is describing the setting, she uses hyphens to exaggerate the pauses between the words as she is telling us about this room. The speaker later on talks about giving away her possessions. The dying speaker says, “I willed my Keepsakes –