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Poem 465 Essays: Disillusions At The Moment Of Death

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Disillusioned at the moment of death, the speaker in Emily Dickinson’s poem #465, plummets from her majestic spiritual expectations into the lowly position of simply being a carcass. Distracted by the anticipation of an impending ethereal experience, the speaker fails to recognize the significance of the fly at the moment of her death. Dickinson’s preliminary placement of the fly, “I heard a Fly buzz — when I died” in the beginning sentence offers a form of foreshadowing as well as emphasizes it’s roll (1). The speaker is encompassed by the ideas of her spiritual expectations and is waiting, “between the Heaves of Storm” for a heavenly excursion (4). However, the sound of the fly, an animal devoted to consuming the dead, brings reality to the audience that the speaker is simply a carcass waiting to be devoured. While she continues to focus on what she believes will be her divine resting place, Dickinson’s syntax helps the readers realize the finality of the speaker’s situation with the sound of the …show more content…

Dickinson’s syntactical choices and literary devices combine to create this dramatic irony. Dickinson’s reinsertion of the fly suggests to the readers that the speaker’s death is simply the end of her existence, while the speaker is still holding onto what she expects to be a divine intervention. The speaker has “willed [her] Keepsakes - Signed away/ What portions of [her] be/ Assignable,” and now she waits for “the King” to take the bulk of her being, what she believes is her soul (9-11). In reality she fails to realize that there is nothing left of her spirituality to give, she remains solely as flesh. Dickinson creates an ironic situation when she has the speaker acknowledge the presence of the fly without realizing it’s purpose in her situation. The fly is presented in the place of God to accept the speaker’s final possession, her body, not her

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Aside from the fly, a slew of mourners are also present at the narrator’s deathbed, as the narrator states that the “The Eyes around [them] - had wrung [themselves] dry” (Dickinson), proving how the mourners, or eyes, around the narrator, are devastated by the narrator’s death, as their eyes are dry from crying. In fact, the narrator’s death is so important that even “the King / [was] witnessed - in the Room” (Dickinson), with “the King” referring to God. This importance humanity, which is represented by the mourners, places on death is similar to that it places on marriage, as in The Storm, Calixta is aware of how her marriage makes her affair all the more scandalous, just as the mourners are aware of the narrator’s death is something monumental and holy. However, just as Calixta disregards her marriage due to her natural lust, the “stumbling fly,” interrupts the solemn mourners around the narrator’s deathbed with its clumsy and bumbling nature. Since the fly represents nature, this suggests that the narrator’s death is not as significant in the eyes of nature as it is in the eyes of humanity, just like nature doesn’t find Calixta’s marriage very important as it is the reason she possesses the instinct which drives

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Throughout her poem, “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –,” the speaker of the poem is dying in her deathbed surrounded by loved ones, and how she is experiencing a memory of death and how she is enduring it. As the people at the deathbed are “gathering firm” around her, they are in an understanding that she will die and are waiting for her demised (Dickinson). The “eyes” of the beloved ones were flowing of tears and crying to the dying loved one of the deathbed (Dickinson). Throughout Dickinson’s poem, no happiness is brought upon inside the poem because all that the author sees the theme of death as sadness and

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Thus, Emily Dickinson's poems "I heard a Fly buzz-when I died" and "Because I could not stop for Death-" explore the theme of death and share the same writing style; however, they differ in their perception of death, and tone, which creates a notable and alluring form of writing that defies the standards of poetry. Moreover, “I heard a Fly Buzz when I died” has a unique writing style in which Emily Dickinson is known. This is shown through the use of dashes, and short lines. An example of this is, "Was like the Stillness in the Air - / Between the Heaves of Storm -"( Dickinson 3-4). Besides demonstrating Emily's signature style of dashes and short lines, this quote also shows how she formats her poetry so the reader can see how there is an unsettling realization that something is going to happen as the speaker lies on the death bed, which has to do with the subject of death.

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Thoreau writes very densely with many metaphors, while in contrast Dickinson writes poetry with many dashes, odd capitalizations and few metaphors; especially metaphors of death such as in There’s a Certain Slant of Light “When it goes, ‘tis like the Distance On the Look of Death” (Dickinson 1199). Dickinson’s writing proceeds to show the reader many instances of death. In I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died Dickinson states that the speaker of the story is surrounded by people, presumably loved ones and is in a dying stage. The narrator of the poem recalls the events of his/her death. The narrator shows that before his/her death, he/she can see but with the lack of his sight the narrator instantly dies “There interposed a fly – With Blue – uncertain – stumbling Buzz – Between the light – and me-

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Dickinson’s use of repetition and onomatopoeia helps show just how mad the narrator really is. It is stated,” Kept beating-beating- till I thought my mind was going numb”. The narrator is hearing noises that aren’t really there like the “beating” of a drum which supports the idea she is crazy. The first person point of view helps show that apparent funeral that is taking place inside of her mind. She states,” I felt a funeral, in my Brain…

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Emily Dickinson was a very quiet women who found in nature metaphors for the spirit. ” She wrote with the precision of a diamond cutter.” In Emily Dickinson 's two poems “I heard a Fly Buzz - When I died” and “Because I could not stop for Death” they talk about death. In “I heard a Fly Buzz - When I died” and “Because I could not stop for Death” by emily Dickinson are both similar and different. Both poems are similar in mood but different in tone.

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The narrative of the poem reveals how she feels torn between her family's belief in eternal life and her view that all life ends with death. For example, her confusion appears in the lines, " There interposed a Fly…Between the light–and me—And then the Windows failed–and then—I could not see to see…" (Dickinson). In these lines, the speaker of the poem tells how a fly interrupted her ascension into "the light," or heaven, causing everything to fade to black as she passed away. Instead of ascending fully into eternal life or simply ceasing to live altogether, the speaker experiences a confusing mixture of final death and everlasting life in her final moments, as she first witnesses the light of heaven and then the complete darkness of lasting death.

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In the poem “Because I could not stop for death” by Emily Dickinson, death is described as a person, and the narrator is communicating her journey with death in the afterlife. During the journey the speaker describes death as a person to accompany her during this journey. Using symbolism to show three locations that are important part of our lives. The speaker also uses imagery to show why death isn 't’ so scary.

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The speaker seems completely at ease with the Death as they move along at a relaxed pace. In the third stanza, the reader sees reminders of the world that the speaker is passing through, with children playing, fields of grain, and the sun setting. However, the speakers place in the world shifts between the third stanza and the next. Dickinson states, “We passed the Setting Sun- (12)”, but at the beginning of the fourth stanza, the speaker corrects this by stating, “Or rather – / He passed us – (13) ” because she has died. In the rest of the

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The speaker is worried that thier soul will not be taken to heaven for all eternity. As the speaker ponders this, the fly interrupts and is not part of this tradition and ritual. The fly is standing between the speaker and the light, interrupting the speakers final thoughts. The fly symbolizes the physical aspects of death and reminds the speaker of this as the speaker loses their breath and sight then passes

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Dickinson also places an allusion to place the extra atmosphere that she believes everyone has gone through a grief, and it helps the reader understand what is happening. Also the poem has tone. Every poem has tone, but in this poem the poet is happy then turns into sadness, and how she uses other people’s sorrow and grief to pleasure

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In “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”, Emily Dickinson uses imagery and symbols to establish the cycle of life and uses examples to establish the inevitability of death. This poem describes the speaker’s journey to the afterlife with death. Dickinson uses distinct images, such as a sunset, the horses’ heads, and the carriage ride to establish the cycle of life after death. Dickinson artfully uses symbols such as a child, a field of grain, and a sunset to establish the cycle of life and its different stages. Dickinson utilizes the example of the busyness of the speaker and the death of the sun to establish the inevitability of death.

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The death of the woman has not been fully realized or absorbed by the speaker as Dickinson describes it to just be a “Common Night” (2). This calm is shattered by shock and sadness as Dickinson highlights that the night was ordinary “Except the Dying” in the following line (3). This portrays the suddenness of death and how life appears to suddenly change as “we noticed smallest things” and priorities change (5). Death becomes “this great light upon our Minds” that changes how people view life as its end stares back at them and they begin to mourn both for the person that is dying and the

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