The Attitudes of Death by the Deceased
Emily Dickinson and Randall Jarrell both use a unique style of narration, having the deceased speak. Only through this manifestation do these poems have a lasting impact and greater meaning. Both in Dickinson's "I heard a Fly Buzz-"and in Jarrell's "Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," death is portrayed through the words of the posthumous speakers without the orthodox conception of heaven, but instead with an anomalistic manifestation of death as purely the end of ones existence; Using it's own unique metaphor each poem brings into view the dismal transition from life to the withered state of death. In Dickenson's "I heard a Fly Buzz-" a simple fly is used in the ceremonious transition from life to death as God is absent. The central figure of the scene is expected to make a glorious exit and the build-up is just right for it, but at the moment of climax it was not God that came but "there interposed a Fly." The fly comes between the speaker and the onlookers, between life and death. No longer is her family and friends, or the material items that have been the focus of her attention throughout her life important to her, in her
last moments her attention is on the fly. It is the fact that the fly obscures the ritual of dying, flying "between the light and me," that allows the speaker to see the fact of death. The fly obliterates the speaker's false notions of death and becomes a reminder of her ghastly condition and decay. The only sound of heavenly music is the "uncertain stumbling buzz" of the fly. The buzz grows until it takes up her entire field of perception and comes between her and the 'light' until the "windows fail" and she is left in darkness, in ignorance, and in death. It is then that she can not "see to see" as she is ignorant. The fly reduced human life to an elementary and meaningless level. Instead of the awaited ascension to heaven she is left in ignorance and death. Throughout these poems the speakers face a disappointment with death, expecting to have a glorious transition into the afterlife with God at their side only to be left unmet, only to die and be forgotten. The speakers developed attitude about death is that in life it is looked upon as a holy event, yet in actuality when it finally comes you are cast out from life
Some common words found in the essay are:
Turret Gunner, Fly Buzz-, Randall Jarrell, death life, jarrell's death ball, Jarrell's Death, Ball Turret, ball turret gunner, Death Ball, death ball turret, heard fly, jarrell's death, death ball, turret gunner, dream life, life death, transition life, six miles, ignorance death,
Approximate Word count = 767
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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