Analysis of Emily DickinsonI Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died

Analysis of Emily DickinsonI hear a Fly Buzz-When I DiedThe Tone and Mood in I perceive a Fly BuzzWhen I DiedDickinson writes this verse from a perspective after she has died. She is describing the experience of dying, the final aesthesis before the exact hour of d eath. The speaker is both percipient and participant, which means the Self is divided. The poem shows her own sight of death- a common yet indescribable mystery of benignant experience. She imaginatively explores the mystery. The tone is very calm. This tang of the speaker who is dying helps the readers understand the level of acceptance of her own fate. Furthermore, the tone is quite a robotic narration, the kind that one would expect from a dead person, with no emotion.Flies be creatures that eat carrions. It is an ironic and cruel admonisher of the fate of a dead persons body after he or she has died, which is a contrast of the traditional Christian belief round the holiness of life and death. Angels or God hims elf dont come to take the soul of the her after the death, instead, a mere disappear comes, and then the whole feeling changes and leaves total darkness and oblivion to the readers.In the commencement ceremony stanza, Dickinson tells us that she is in the room, which is silent and the most outstanding element of the poem, the dead scene, waiting for her death. The poem describes the tranquility between heaves, suggesting that upheaval has happened in this moment and that more upheaval will follow. It is a moment of anticipation, of waiting. The communication channel is unflurried, and the witnesses of her death atomic number 18 silent, yet the fly is buzzing. The speakers tone is tranquil, even flat. Her narration is concise and factual. She repeats the word Stillness twice with both capitalized, which shows how strong that emotion is. However, in this stillness she heard a buzz of a fly, which interrupts the calmness n apparently annoys her. That is why she says I heard a Fl y buzz when I died, to express the interruption of her certainty of death.In the second stanza, we are still in the room, but the speaker leaves the fly behind and talks about the sight witnessing the death during her last moment. Her specking shows that that last onset is about to happen. Last onset is an oxymoron, while onset means a beginning, and last means an end. The pot around her are presently stop crying and are calmly preparing for her death. It shows everything is ready and she is now going to unite with the King in heaven. We can still see that although this is her last moment, there is no fear or sadness in this atmosphere. On the other hand, except for her inner calmness, the people around her are quiet and calm too, other than weeping and crying. This strengthens the stillness in the first stanza.The third and forth stanzas are an introduction of the fly. In the third stanza, when the speaker knows she is now ready and is giving away her wills and heritage, witho ut any trace of sorrow and fear, the fly a reappear intruder, a weird, unnecessary, and gross little bug breaks in her calmness again. This sudden interruption of the fly damages the peaceful image of this poem unexpectedly. Although the fly doesnt appear in most of the poem, it comes back in a forged way. The speaker uses the word interposed, which changes everything and makes the atmosphere much less comfortable.In the forth stanza, it is the first time that the speaker describes the fly in details. She uses words Blue unsealed stumbling buzz to show the image of it. It gives readers a stronger image of the colors and movements that go along with that annoying sound. Dickinson doesnt write a sentence to describe the fly, on the contrary, she tho drops a few words, and we begin to build a picture in our minds. Also, the word uncertain is definitely a completely opposite image of her willingness towards her death. When flies, which eat dead bodies, are associated with decay a nd death, this intruders interruption of the speakers progress toward the comforting of the light is evil. And right when the fly interposes between the light and her, she closes her eyes and dies, in other words, the moment when she dies, she does non die comfortably, which is out of expectation of the stillness in this poem. Although death is expected, the actual moment of death happens suddenly. Also, when read the poem as a whole, the eyesight has been narrowing, closing and centralizing on the fly throughout the whole incident.Every line in this poem is written in perfect iambic meter. They are divided into two syllable chunks, while emphasizing on the second syllable. The length of the stanzas and the lines are to a fault regular. There are four stanzas each with four lines. The first and the third lines in each stanza have eight syllables. The second and fourth lines each have six syllables. Dickinson gave this poem a smooth, rhythmic feel. Rhyme also plays a significant ro le in this poem. The first stanzas have no apparent verse line, until the last stanza that we see a rhyme pattern of ABCB, which indicates that true rhyme comes with true death. The rhyme finalizes the death in a way that making it a major part of the poem by putting emphasis on it.Dickinson also uses a lot of hyphens, which seems randomly put in but in fact it is another important strategy. A dying person gasping for breath that have abrupt pauses in their speech. The way they force you to pause again and again, even in weird places, gives readers the sense of slow, certain anticipation. These lines represent those abrupt pauses, do readers to read the poem much as the speaker herself would.The overall atmosphere in this poem is quiet, calm and peaceful, though, except when the fly interrupts the speakers waiting of death. When the sound of the fly fades, the vita of the speaker also fades, until the poems final moment of silence. It is very different from the stereotype feeling when people talk or write about death. In this poem, the death is painless, yet the vision of death is horrifying. At the beginning, the insignificant fly merely startles and disconcerts us. But at the end of the poem, the fly assumes dreadful meaning. on the face of it the central image is the fly. It expresses the mood and experiences in the speakers death. Although the tone is calm, the mood is somber and sad, as the fly apparently interrupts her anticipation of a peaceful death.In conclusion, this poem represents the nature of death, what everyone has to encounter when they die. However, most of us believe we, human beings are special, superior to the other animals and that our deaths should be treated with more honor, while the fact is that human beings are animals, too. Our deaths are no more or less significant than the others. Death is natural. This poem represents the obscure feeling within Emily Dickinson. She could simply write a poem about seeing herself going to heaven , but she didnt consider death was as honorable as many would think and in the end she could not see to seeReferences1. I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died. I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. .2. On 465 (I Heard a Fly Buzzwhen I Died). On 465 (I Heard a Fly Buzzwhen I Died). Web. 11 Mar. 2015. 3. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. .4. Shmoop Editorial Team. I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died . Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. .