I Heard A Fly Buzz by Emily Dickinson Poem Analysis

Emily Dickinson’s poem I heard a Fly buzz - when I died definitely has a dark and terrifying sense that the person dying is met with darkness. It’s unknown what happens after you die. It could be a peaceful or a terrifying experience. Dickinson explores the mystery of death from her own perspective. She explains the exact moments of her death, describing the experience of dying. Her tone is calm which helps the reader understand her acceptance of her fate. Neither angels nor God came to take her soul away but instead, it’s just a fly. 

Each line in this poem is written in an iambic meter. This means that the poem is separated into two sections and each line consists of two syllables, the second syllable emphasized. There are four stanzas, both with four lines. The first and third lines have eight syllables and the second and fourth have six. Rhyme plays an important role in the poem. There was no rhyming until the final stanza where we see the rhyming pattern of ABCB, which means the second and fourth lines rhyme with each other and the first and third lines don’t. The rhyme gave the poem a nice, smooth feel and although it may seem like the hyphens are random, they were a very important strategy. When a person is dying, they gasp for air which creates pausing in their speech. The lines give the reader a sense of anticipation. It makes the readers read the poem as the speaker would.

The most important element of the poem is the death scene in the first stanza where Dickinson tells the reader that she is in a silent room. She is relaxed and describes the calmness as, “Between the Heaves of the Storm,” which suggests that there has been chaos up to this point and there will be more. The fly is mentioned in line one and won’t be mentioned again until line twelve. This builds a moment of anticipation and suspense. To show how strong her emotion is she repeats the word “Stillness” twice, both times capitalized. All of her loved ones are gathered but, are silent instead of engaging in conversation, meant to allow the speaker to transition to the afterlife. Though the air and the witnesses of her death are still, the fly is still buzzing, which disrupts the tranquility. Fly’s are bugs that eat the flesh of dead animals and humans. This is why when she says, “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died,” she is expressing that she knows she is going to die.

In the second stanza, Dickinson focuses on the people or rather, “The Eyes,” that are witnessing her death. Their eyes are “wrung dry”, like a towel, meaning they have cried as much as they can. This is the last moment of the speaker’s life and the witness’ eyes being dry suggests that her death has been expected for a while. Her describing her breathing as, “gathering firm,” shows that the “last Onset,” is about to happen. “The last Onset,” is an oxymoron because while, “onset,” means the beginning, “last,” means the end. The beginning of the end is coming and the people stopped crying and started to prepare for her death. Now since everything is ready, she can meet the “King,” in heaven. The idea of death and what happens afterward is different in every culture. In this line, the “King,” is referring to God, just like how the Bible refers to Jesus as the “King of Kings.”. There is no sadness in the scene and the people are calm as well, just silent as everyone is surrounding the speaker’s deathbed, waiting for fo God to guide her through her journey to the afterlife.

The third stanza is when she is ready to sign away her will and personal items with no sadness present. Instead, it’s rather dry. Either she is more interested in the material goods rather than the spiritual journey or she is saying that the items are not as important and people think they are, which is why it could be signed away. The fly enters again and breaks her calmness, disturbing the peaceful scene. The fly isn’t in the poem too much but, when it is, it’s a very important part. The fly comes back in the fourth stanza and it’s the first time it is described. Instead of using full sentences to describe the fly, she only uses a few words. By using the word, “uncertain,” she forms an image opposite of her previous willingness towards her death. Since fly’s eat dead bodies, they are associated with death. Right when the fly gets in the middle of her and the light she closes her eyes and dies. When the poem is read as a whole, her eyes have been slowly closing and focusing on the fly.

In conclusion, the poem represents something everyone will go through when they die. Though the death was painless, the imagery was horrifying. The feeling of the poem is peaceful and quiet, except when the fly interrupts the speaker. The fly is insignificant at the beginning of the poem until the end when we find out its true meaning. It expresses the experiences and feelings of the speaker’s death. Emily Dickinson could have written a nice poem about her going to heaven but instead decided to portray death more realistically.