Emily Dickinson

A detailed Summary of Emily Dickinson

Many poets often have themes or topics for which most of their poetry falls under. One of the topics that frequent the writhing of Emily Dickinson is death. This is the case with "I Felt a Funeral in my Brain," and "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died."

In "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died" the we receive the image of death by the description in the first stanza, "the stillness round my form was like the stillness in the air between the heaves of storm." This stillness, like the stillness in the eye of the storm, does not change its surroundings, it is now constant. This is the image of death that is given, but the description goes on with: "and breaths were gathering surely for that last onset, when the king be witnessed in his power." The image of gathering breath to go and meet a king, suggests that they must have a lot

of explaining to do. The speaker appears to be preparing to meet God. In the third stanza, the speaker sais, "I willed my keepsakes, signed away what portion of me I could make assignable," this could speak of the will that the speaker made out. However, this is where the fly intervenes. If the text is taken chronologically, then the speaker may already be dead, and perhaps giving of herself to the "king." "--and then interposed a fly, with blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz," the fact that the fly is blue may suggest royalty, perhaps the fly is a type of king also. However, the fly is not perfect as it has an "uncertain, stumbling buzz." This fly may be symbolic of all the stumbling that the speaker has done, and we see it's affect in the last 3 lines "between the light and me: and then the windows failed, and then I could not see to see."

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Approximate Word count = 567
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Emily Dickinson

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