Emily Dickenson's I Heard A Fly Buzz-When I Died

Analysis of Death and “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died” Emily Dickenson’s poem, “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died” illustrates death as she describes her deathbed scene. The poet wrote many poems focused on death and the sadness and sorrow of it. What happens at the time of a person’s death is mysterious and Dickenson describes this experience of departing from life. Dickenson expects a peaceful and beautiful departure from life. However, the commotion of a fly buzzing around her deathbed causes uncertainty about what she expects in the after-life. A human’s death is inevitable in life and Dickenson expresses this main theme and what the process of death is like in the first stanza. She states in the beginning that there was “Stillness in the Room” (line 2). She indicates that dying is peaceful, but her tone is foreboding. The reader does not realize at the time that the fly she hears buzzing is significant and that it will disturb what she expects at the end of the death process. Dickenson shows the role of family and people close to a person as they are dying. She describes “The Eyes around-had wrung them dry” (line 5) and these are the crying eyes of grief-stricken family and friends surrounding the deathbed as they wait for the final moment, death, “the last Onset” (line …show more content…
This represents the battle that takes place between the powerful opposite forces. The “light” mentioned in the poem represents heaven and the beautiful afterlife Dickenson expects to enter. However, her final moment of life on earth and when she thinks she will go to heaven is “interposed” (line 12) by the fly buzzing loudly around her deathbed. The fly disturbs her final moments of life and blocks the light, creating darkness. The fly causes havoc by “stumbling” (line 13) and interrupts her special moment with uncertainty. The fly comes between her and the glorious afterlife she anticipates with her King by blocking the