I heard a Fly Buzz - Example Essay #2

“And then the windows failed, and then I could not see to see”

How does Dickinson display fear in this poem and elsewhere in her poetry?

Without question on of the main recurring images throughout Dickinson’s poetry is that of fear. We can see this in many of her poems and we see how it takes different forms and how she fears various aspects of life and death. An example of this would be in “It was not death for I stood up,” where we see her fear being “shaven and fitted to a frame,” and again in “There’s a certain slant of light,” with the line, “Heavenly hurt it gives us;” Both of these illustrate the constant fear that is being inflicted upon Dickinson, but the most effective example of fear in her poems is in “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died-“ Throughout this poem we see how the fear that she is feeling is all consuming, and we see predominantly how she fears the coldness of others and how quick they are to judge and change their minds with other giving her a second thought.

The key recurring symbol that seems to impose the most fear into her is the image of the fly, “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died” The fly could represent two things, it could either be that she fears that the fly will begin the decomposition of her body after her death or that the image of the fly is typically connected with the image of Beelzebub and Satan. She fears that rather than being able to have peace in her after life in heaven she will be taken away with the fly and have to continue her days in darkness, “I could not see to see-“ and this fear is the one the drives the fear for the rest of the poem. “There interposed a Fly-“ The other things that creates fear within her is the image of the fly accidently taking her way, “With Blue- uncertain stumbling Buzz-“ this represents that the fly is even uncertain is she should go to hell, and portrays the even as unintentional and this is what she fears, she fears being wrongly taken to hell even though she may not deserve it. She also fears the cold nature of God, he is willing to allow something as small as a fly to stop her from being allowed into heaven, “Between the light-and me-“ this shows that you only have one change to get into heaven and that God is not willing to give you a second chance, this again shows that even a figure that many consider as being forgiving and loving, is cold towards her, showing that she has no connection with anyone.

“The Eyes around- had wrung them dry-“ From this we can see all the ‘people’ who have come to visit Dickinson after she has died, but we can see how they are only portrayed as eyes, this indicated that they is no emotional connection between her and her family and friends, and also the fact that they have stopped crying could be an indication that they are happy that she has died as she was more of a burden on their lives. But the use of eyes also illustrates her fear of being watched and judged by others around her, we can see how she is constantly parodied that people are watching her and what they think of her. “What portions of me be/ assigned”, this is a real contrast with the image of the eyes, showing that she feels a deeper and more meaning full connection with her belonging that she does with her family, but we can also see that she fears signing away herself to others, she does it with a large amount of reluctance and the use of formal language could show that she feels that the others are not worth of part of her.

Unlike many of her other poems the structure and use of literary techniques, such as capital letters and punctuation, is incorrect in this poem, as a reader we can believe that this has been purposely inserted to indicate her rising fear and distress, “Was like the Stillness in the Air-“ The breakdown of standard English demonstrates that the fear is causing her to think unreasonable and the fear is so great that she is not concerned with her punctuation. The use of tetra and tri on her line structure makes the lines not flow and has an awkward feel for the reader, creating an image of a broken woman, who is lost within the world. It also makes the line feel as if it is missing something, this again makes Dickinson appear to missing something and that her life is wrong to her, nothing is able to flow. The use of enjambment again makes the poem awkward to read out loud as the reader is unable to take a breath, but this reflects the breathless nature of Dickinson and also makes it clear to the reader how the poem is almost like her chain of thought. It also illustrates her longing for God to hurry up, “What portions of me be/ assignable- and then it was” the us of not punctuation allows the line to flow and be spoken with a quicker pace, and indication of her longing to get into heaven before the “fly” is able to grab her and take her to hell.