During the 1800s and even today, many Christians believe that the end of one’s life is a momentous occasion, complete with trumpets blowing, the heavens opening, and angels descending from the sky. They expect to reach eternal salvation and enlightenment: their heavenly reward. However, within poem #465, Emily Dickinson’s speaker ironically confronts this glorified Christian expectation of the moment of death by revealing its truly anticlimactic nature-- the grim truth of reality as represented by the mundane buzz of a fly. Within Dickinson’s first stanza, her familiar rhythmic structure of the poem immediately evokes a solemn, spiritual mood as its pattern of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter parallels the structure of a church hymn.
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For instance, Dickinson employs synecdoche by referring to the people gathered in the room by their “eyes” and the speaker to her “Breaths”(5-6,). Obviously, Dickinson draws focus away from the people in the room who have overcome grief and reached acceptance and instead upon the speaker’s uncertainty regarding the final moments of her life, which could end at any second. She also alludes to the “King” being “[witness]-- in the Room—“ for the “last onset”(7-8). One can conclude that the speaker is referring to the expectation of God’s majestic presence in the room to take her away when she perishes. Clearly, Dickinson indicates the speaker’s spirituality and belief in a climactic death with the lord himself baring witness, which further reinforces the later irony when rather a fly is a …show more content…
The speaker explains that she “willed [her] keepsakes – signed away / What Portions of [her] be / Assignable”(9-11) At this point, Dickinson emphasizes the preparation of the speaker for death, both materialistically and spiritually. Although the willing away of possessions may seem to be a trivial, selfish matter, Dickinson’s speaker is likely also speaking about giving her soul up to God. However, as all seems to be building to a grand climax, “there interposed a fly”(12). Dickinson distracts the speaker from thoughts of her momentous death by presenting a buzzing symbol of reality, specifically in terms of the decomposition process. Flies are notorious for laying eggs in the flesh of corpses and their maggots consuming the host; the speaker recognizes this significance and is forced to contend with her eventual
For instance, Dickinson employs synecdoche by referring to the people gathered in the room by their “eyes” and the speaker to her “Breaths”(5-6,). Obviously, Dickinson draws focus away from the people in the room who have overcome grief and reached acceptance and instead upon the speaker’s uncertainty regarding the final moments of her life, which could end at any second. She also alludes to the “King” being “[witness]-- in the Room—“ for the “last onset”(7-8). One can conclude that the speaker is referring to the expectation of God’s majestic presence in the room to take her away when she perishes. Clearly, Dickinson indicates the speaker’s spirituality and belief in a climactic death with the lord himself baring witness, which further reinforces the later irony when rather a fly is a …show more content…
The speaker explains that she “willed [her] keepsakes – signed away / What Portions of [her] be / Assignable”(9-11) At this point, Dickinson emphasizes the preparation of the speaker for death, both materialistically and spiritually. Although the willing away of possessions may seem to be a trivial, selfish matter, Dickinson’s speaker is likely also speaking about giving her soul up to God. However, as all seems to be building to a grand climax, “there interposed a fly”(12). Dickinson distracts the speaker from thoughts of her momentous death by presenting a buzzing symbol of reality, specifically in terms of the decomposition process. Flies are notorious for laying eggs in the flesh of corpses and their maggots consuming the host; the speaker recognizes this significance and is forced to contend with her eventual