Emily Dickinson’s ‘I heard a fly buzz when I died’ describes the speakers moment of during death with is ruined by a fly impairing her vision of the moment of death or the ‘light’. The speaker is with their family in a room for the preparation of the moment when the speaker passes away.
The tone of the poem is dreamy, languid and almost completely relaxed. It is almost as if the speaker a ghost in the dreamy relaxed manner the speaker conveys their thoughts and recollections. This complete relaxation builds suspense throughout the poem. “Between the Heaves of Storm”. This image is depicting the eye of the storm where it is completely still and tense. This phrase is meant to build anticipation for the climax which is the fly blocking the view of the mystery of after death. The tone slightly shifts in the last stanza to despair due to powerlessness of the speaker in their situation.
The images and symbols in this poem are very significant to understanding it, such as the King or the storm. The King is a very mysterious symbol. “When the King be witnessed-in his Power-”.The King in this line is representing the king of the afterlife, like maybe Jesus or God. This interpretation is so due to the fact that Dickinson was a very religious person with her best friend being a priest. The storm is a strong both image and symbol. “Between the Heaves of Storm-” The use of a storm represents the eye of the storm where it is still and tense. Same as the reader, we can assume the reader has being sick for a while due to the relatives being around and the possessions being distributed. Therefore the reader has gone through horrible sickness and is now calm and peaceful just before their death, which is the back half of the storm.
Dickinson’s poem diction plays a large role in expressing her message. From the very first line diction features are prominent “I heard a Fly buzz”. This feature of onomatopoeia is depicting the irritation of the fly in such an important moment like death. The word, which that captures the readers attention out of all word in the poem is ‘interposed’. “There interposed a Fly”. The word interposed is used to give image-buzzing creature destroying the peaceful deathbed scene. The fly is noisy, irritating and a serious inconvenience, which is exactly what interposed in this poem portrays.
The rhythm in Dickinson’s poem is incredibly particular on the other hand rhyming is almost not a feature in the poem. Dickinson’s syllable arrangement is impeccable with six in the second and forth lines, and eight in the first and third lines of each stanza. This gives the poem a sooth flowing reading, which enhances to the languid tone and mood. The rhyme in the poem is in half rhymes. The half rhymes feature throughout the first four stanzas in an ‘ABCB’ scheme and in the last stanza they are full rhymes. Dickinson’s has done this as a sacrifice to use the best words, which fit the syllable structure. Dickinson has also done this to add to the seriousness of the moment.
The symbolic meaning of the poem is very mysterious and undefined. A possible interpretation is that life is full of distractions that can divide our attention even in the most critical of moments. “And then the windows failed-”. This is a symbol of the eyes closing before the speaker gets to see the light. This could also be a symbol of the speaker seeing her soul. In the old testament of the bible windows was an expression for soul and Dickenson was very religious. Dickenson is representing how humans can’t focus their full attention on something there are always distractions that sway our attention no matter how hard we try.
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