Emily Dickinson, 465
Chaya, Krystal, Simona
Before someone dies there’s a vivid moment of awareness of their surroundings. In Emily Dickinson’s poem the narrator describes her surroundings while she was on her deathbed. “I heard a fly buzz—when I died,” she was aware of the moments before her death that she remembered a fly was interrupting the last few moments she had. The narrator is aware she is going to die and there’s a moment of mental preparation where she sees that everyone around her is crying until their last tear. In her last moments she recollects that she has given all of her possessions in her will and a midst the stillness in the room, a fly starts to buzz in her ear and disrupts the stillness. Her sense of awareness is heightened because this is the conclusion of her life. When Dickinson writes, “There interposed a Fly- with Blue- uncertain stumbling Buzz-” she is mentioning the only sound that occurs in the poem. The only sense of life in the room is the fly buzzing; the ones who are watching her remain still and lifeless as she dies. The people witnessing are exhausted with grief and we can note that the fly is the central image in the poem.
9 responses so far ↓
k.matthes // Oct 23rd 2015 at 11:48 am
I think it’s really interesting how you compared the activity of the people in the room to the activity of the fly. It’s kind of saying that life goes on. The people in the room are overcome with sadness, while the fly is doing what it would’ve been doing regardless if she were to die or not.
j.kohan // Oct 23rd 2015 at 2:55 pm
I found the most interesting aspect of this paragraph to be your analysis of one’s awareness before he/she dies; and in this case how the narrator could clearly hear the fly that was present in the room. The last moments before one dies are truly crucial, as it is their final image of the world before they are gone. In this critical time period, there is obviously heightened sensitivity to one’s surroundings, as you mentioned. The extent to which this carried though was amazing, to be able to even hear a fly in such a tragic time.
Great work.
aj166127 // Oct 23rd 2015 at 6:08 pm
I was told before that one of the last senses to go before you die is your sense of hearing. What you guys definitely brought me back to a time and place when I heard that line. Great analysis.
mf152788 // Oct 23rd 2015 at 6:43 pm
I thought your analysis was great. It gives a good, solid explanation as to why Dickinson would be talking so much about such a seemingly meaningless thing, moments before her death. However, I thought you could’ve developed it more instead of introducing a new quote.
j.mireles // Oct 23rd 2015 at 9:32 pm
I like your analysis because a lot of people can relate to it. I find it particularly funny because when people say things like “John saw ____ before he died” I’m just curious as to how John would have survived or came back from being death in order to explain what happened.
I must agree with the the part of having a vivid moment of awareness, I find that very common with a situation I had 5 years ago where I was almost got hit by a bus, luckily I was not hit but boy I felt alive afterward.
e.volynsky // Oct 24th 2015 at 7:34 am
Great analysis! I also find it particularly interesting how someone can recollect feelings and visuals on their deathbed. It just seems odd. I thought your analysis was pretty thorough and I like your comment about the fly being the central image. However, maybe you could have incorporated that element into the topic sentence to make your paragraph more constructed? Good job!
k.garcia2 // Oct 24th 2015 at 11:54 am
I like you analysis of the fly . It gives the reader of the perspective that maybe people on their death bed want to experience a more happy vibe than grief . The focus of the fly shows how the narrorator wanted her last experience to be about life.
j.brito // Oct 24th 2015 at 11:55 am
Emily Dickinson was trying to show the beauty in death. It is the opposite of seeing your life flash right before your eyes. The subject is super attentive even though she is dying, and can find the beauty in something as pestering as a fly. I believe the interpretation is spot on and it seems that Emily might actually embrace death as the truest state of awareness and serenity.
JMERLE // Oct 24th 2015 at 1:17 pm
Chaya, Krystal, Simona,
You make some perceptive comments, but please note the problems with your paragraph form:
The focus is clear form your first sentence, but then you speak rather generally until you get to the sentence, “Her sense of awareness is heightened . . .”. This is an excellent quote, and you begin to analyze it nicely. This should all start, however, right after your topic sentence, then, instead of the general commentary in the beginning (between your first sentence and the sentence beginning, “Her sense of awareness . . .”) you can spend your time analyzing, to greater depth, the quotation.
Grade: 8/10