I heard a fly buzz – when I died –

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I heard a fly buzz – when I died –

by Emily Dickinson

I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –
Between the Heaves of Storm –

The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room –

I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable – and then it was
There interposed a Fly –

With Blue – uncertain – stumbling Buzz –
Between the light – and me –
And then the Windows failed – and then
I could not see to see –

_______________________

This strange an image-filled poems is one of the most famous of Dickinson’s works.

This poem is 16 lines, divided into 4 quatrains, with a loose and imperfect ABCB rhyme scheme. The rhymes are primarily half-rhymes rather than full rhymes (room/Storm, firm/Room, be/Fly) though the last rhyme in stanza 4 is a full rhyme.

In the poem, Dickinson paints an uncomfortable picture of dying, with the Speaker describing the scene as the dying person. The Speaker describes the people and recent events, but now also notices a fly in the room. The fly, which is first mentioned in the poem’s opening line, is the last thing she seems to see or think of prior to death.

Stanza One:

I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –
Between the Heaves of Storm –

Dickinson is a frequent user of dashes to create dramatic pauses in her work. In line one that is done to great effect. “I heard a fly buzz” is an ordinary and perhaps boring irritation. However, the pause before continuing with “when I died” makes the subject matter much more interesting and dramatic. Line one lets us know that the Speaker of the poem is dead.

The rest of the stanza is spent describing everything else in the situation. The dying Speaker is in a recently quieted rom. She lets us know that shortly ago, there had been some commotion by describing prior events as a “Storm.” We can assume perhaps the gathered group in the room with her had been making some noise crying, but had since grown quiet.

Dickinson frequently capitalizes words she intends to emphasize and we see that throughout this poem, including stanza one. She utilizes the poetic technique of repetition (“Stillness” x 2) as well as enjambment.

Stanza Two:

The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room –

The second stanza confirms the assumption of stanza one. The “Storm” had been crying, and as she says in the second stanza’s opening line, the crying has now ceased for a time. The “Eyes” are now “wrung…dry.” Line 6 adds to that image of recently ended crying, by describing people with firm breaths, a description that conjures up an imagine of unfirm breaths from some time before. The scene depicts the Stillness described in the first stanza, and lines 7 and 8 create a sense of quiet waiting.

Dickinson does not identify “the King” though it is likely a reference to Jesus or an angel who will escort her to wherever she goes after dying. The quiet waiting room of people is waiting for the King’s arrival as that will be the moment of passing.

Stanza Three:

I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable – and then it was
There interposed a Fly –

The Speaker describes signing her Last Will and Testament. I particularly enjoy her aside – spanning from the end of line nine to the beginning of line 11 – noting that most of what makes her, her, is not actually assignable. The aside is another example of Dickinson’s use of enjambment.

The scene here is thus very peaceful until the dash in the middle of line 11. The peaceful moment is interrupted by a Fly.

Stanza Four:

With Blue – uncertain – stumbling Buzz –
Between the light – and me –
And then the Windows failed – and then
I could not see to see –

This stanza describes the precise moment of the Speaker’s death. The Speaker conveys a growing sense of uncertainty in a couple of ways. First, she literally uses the word uncertain. Second, the insertion of dashes creates a lot of pausing, which leads to an uneven, unsure, and uncomfortable pacing.

In a poem filled with uncomfortable imagery, Dickinson’s description of the failure of the Window is exceptionally gentle. The Reader knows immediately what happened.

We are left to wonder what is meant by the presence of the Fly. Flies are often associated with death (literally present on dead cardcases), and they are also commonly linked with hell (Beelzebub is Lord of the Flies.) Are we to assume that someone other than The King came to escort her away? Perhaps. The expectation the Speaker sets up, earlier in the poem, is that the King would arrive at her moment of death. We are present at this moment of death a few lines later and rather than a King, we see a fly. There is something uncomfortable and unsettling about the presence of this Fly at this precise moment. The Speaker is unsettled as well.

That might be reading too much into it. This fly might also be nothing more than an interesting depiction of how subtle annoyances could be present, even as one dies.

Out of curiosity, though, I decided to see what others think this poem means. From wiki:

“I heard a Fly buzz—when I died” is the informal name for an untitled poem by American author Emily Dickinson. In the poem, the narrator is on her deathbed as she describes the progression towards her death.

Critics have theorised a diverse range of interpretations that address the appearance of a fly in the poem. In 1978, Clarence Gohdes wrote an article in The New England Quarterly proposing that the fly be classified as a bluebottle fly. On the other hand, Eugene Hollahan from the University of North Carolina believes the representation is an “emissary of Satan”. Although theories regarding the symbolism around the fly diverge, the imagery surrounding the corpse imitates that of a deathbed. The speaker reflects on the moment she died, recalling the moment of grief as witnessed by those observing her passing.

Ultimately, the poem is open to interpretation.

What do you think?