In her poem #465, Emily Dickinson’s speaker allows the readers to experience an ironic reversal of conventional expectations of the moment of death in the mid-1800s, as the speaker finds nothing but an eerie darkness at the end of her life. Dickinson allows readers to experience unconventional expectations of death throughout the first and second stanza of her poem through the utilization of an iambic meter and the symbol of a fly. Specifically, the speaker begins the piece by noticing a fly; “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died” (1). Here, Dickinson begins the story of the speaker’s death with her noticing a fly to imply that the speaker could no longer look at life with meaning. This implication is an intense reversal of the conventional ideas
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In the third stanza the speaker wills away what belongings she has and returns back to the symbol of the fly, “there interposed a Fly” (12). Here, Dickinson implies that the fly again symbolizes that the speaker’s mind was elsewhere when it could have been focused on religion and thinking of God as the end of her life neared. However, the speaker had no deeper thoughts or meaning and therefore was only able to focus on a fly buzzing above her head as she died. Also, Dickinson includes a “B” sound, which she incorporates in when the speaker focuses on a buzz “Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz” (13). Here, Dickinson utilizes a strong “B” sound almost as a stutter to mimic the stumbling that is happening within the buzz she describes. The sound adds meaning to the work and creates a sense that the speaker was stumbling through life and was struggling to find her place. The lack of meaning that the speaker felt throughout her life connected to the final moments before death where the speaker was able to concentrate on a fly, rather than reflecting on life. Finally, Dickinson ends her poem with a perfect rhyme when the speaker feels she has failed and is now dying “between the light – and me…/I could not see to see” (13, 15). Here, Dickinson finishes the poem with a perfect rhyme to give the piece a sense of satisfaction, since previously the
In the third stanza the speaker wills away what belongings she has and returns back to the symbol of the fly, “there interposed a Fly” (12). Here, Dickinson implies that the fly again symbolizes that the speaker’s mind was elsewhere when it could have been focused on religion and thinking of God as the end of her life neared. However, the speaker had no deeper thoughts or meaning and therefore was only able to focus on a fly buzzing above her head as she died. Also, Dickinson includes a “B” sound, which she incorporates in when the speaker focuses on a buzz “Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz” (13). Here, Dickinson utilizes a strong “B” sound almost as a stutter to mimic the stumbling that is happening within the buzz she describes. The sound adds meaning to the work and creates a sense that the speaker was stumbling through life and was struggling to find her place. The lack of meaning that the speaker felt throughout her life connected to the final moments before death where the speaker was able to concentrate on a fly, rather than reflecting on life. Finally, Dickinson ends her poem with a perfect rhyme when the speaker feels she has failed and is now dying “between the light – and me…/I could not see to see” (13, 15). Here, Dickinson finishes the poem with a perfect rhyme to give the piece a sense of satisfaction, since previously the