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.

I heard a Fly Buzz - Example Essay #1

“The Stillness in the Room

            Was like the Stillness in the Air –

            Between the Heaves of Storm – “

Discuss ways in which Dickinson explores transitions in ‘I heard a Fly buzz – when I died’.

Transitions are important to the work of Dickinson. We see this in the poem ‘Because I could not stop for Death’ where the speaker’s failure to die leads her to be reborn and live for “eternity”. Transitions are also seen in the poem ‘What mystery pervades a well’ in which the “water” starts a new life of freedom after escaping from the capturing well. However, it is in ‘I heard a Fly buzz – when I died’ that we see the most clear depiction of transitions in Dickinson’s work. The poem explores how the speaker’s plans to reach heaven and the “King”, but instead finds their life leading to Hell as the “Fly” blocks the way.

In ‘I heard a Fly buzz’, the central symbol is the “Fly” which blocks the speaker’s way to heaven and so they can no longer get there and to see the “King”. The speaker instead goes to hell as a result of the Fly who “interposed”; this is a huge issue for the speaker as God does not appear first as she had hoped but rather is blocked and captured. However, even before this, the speaker is ready for the next stage in their life, facing heaven or hell, as she “Signed away” her belongings and wrote her will. In the end, this next phase is never reached due to the Fly’s interference; as a result the speaker “could not see to see” and ends up in darkness. Due to missing her chance to escape hell, the speaker becomes stuck forever and entrapped in an undesired world. The preparations and thought for the next stage of life are also illustrated in ‘The last Night that She lived’. Here Dickinson uses yonic imagery to convey the speaker returning home as a “Reed” to die; she “Bent to the Water” to achieve the next transition of death.

The poem ‘What mystery pervades a well’ features enjambment and elongation to emphasise the utter freedom achieved as the water is freed from its previous limits; “floorless” is elongated and conveys this achieved satisfaction as the

speaker is no longer trapped by the male “well”. Enjambment is also used in ‘I heard a Fly buzz’, here it is used to quicken the reading and speaking speed, as the speaker is rushing to avoid Satan’s presence and be in hell; but she also becomes breathless as a result and so enjambment provides breathing space. The speaker is so eager to reach the next stage in life that they become stressed and anxious; as a result the punctuation is chaotic. Throughout the poem there is chaos in terms of punctuation reflected stress and panic as the speaker becomes desperate to reach the next phase of their life. Deification is emphasised on “Stillness in the Air” as there is little stillness but rather fear and a constant inability for the speaker to think.

Throughout Dickinson’s poetry there is a recurring symbol of eyes that are also portrayed in ‘I heard a Fly buzz’. The “Eyes” are deified which emphasises the lack of emotional connection between the speaker and those looking at her. The deification also serves the purpose of creating a religious tone, such that the eyes are the ultimate judgment before she dies; they are “dry” and so happy she is dead as it is deserving, and also portrays the speaker passing judgment. The poem is also foreshadowing, “Heaves of Storm” represent the doom coming and convey the calm before the storm; through “Heaves” appearing to look like heaven it has a mocking effect that the speaker will not reach this but rather the next transition in life will be hell. Transitions of time are reflected in ‘After great pain a formal feeling comes’ where the stages of the headache are described. The aftermath is addressed as the “hour of lead”, and though the pain remains heavy, it is the next stage in being free from the pain as the speaker’s emotions change in response to it.

Ultimately, transitions are crucial to Dickinson’s work. In many poems, the next stage of life is rebirth despite the desires to die, as seen in ‘Because I could not stop for Death’ where “immortality” is inevitable. However, it is in ‘I heard a Fly buzz – before I died’ that we see the most effective use of transitions as the speaker prepares to reach heaven but the “Fly” prevents all aspirations from being achieved, not even eternity can save the speaker as they become captured in hell.

I heard a Fly Buzz - Essay Plan

‘I heard a Fly buzz – when I died’

Useful Link: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/fly.html

Terror / Death / Entrapment / Hope and Hopelessness / Afterlife / Isolation  

Introduction

-          (Terror) ‘Corridors‘ in ‘The brain’ in One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted - conveys the horror inside a person – the hidden and scary places in a mind are more dangerous than ‘external ghosts’

-          (Entrapment) The last night that she lived where she expresses the pain of being trapped in the world that is ‘awful’ to her.  She sees being ‘dead’ as a way to escape from the pain

-          ‘Despair’ in It was not death, for I stood up that shows the image of her drifting away from hope

-          ‘The Fellow’ as a phallic symbol of danger in A narrow Fellow in the Grass

Central Symbol

-          ‘Fly’ is a common symbol for corruption or a demonic presence (like Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies)

-          The speaker juxtaposes two disparate elements

o   The trivial occurrence of hearing the ‘fly’

o   Death, an important of a person’s life:  ‘when I died’

-          The fly appears in her death, as a negative figure

-          It ‘interposes’ the silence in the scene: This creates a sense of bathos as the ‘buzz’ of a fly distracts the dying figure. 

-          It is perhaps that the fly becomes the central figure of the poem – much of the final stanza is dominated by the fly.  Rather than the rituals of death, attention is focused on the fly. 

-          Dickinson’s use of symbolism foregrounds the power of the fly and immediately foreshadows the doom in the poem – The Fly comes between ‘light’ and the speaker

-          It is possible that the light represents eternal life: The speaker who hopes to escape from the sufferings in her current life is blocked by the Fly in her final reach to the ‘King’ (reference to Christ of God)

-          This conveys the pain in entrapment: The speaker is trapped by the ‘buzz’ of a Fly, only a trivial problem

-          This is further emphasized in the final line where she ‘could not see to see’.

-          As physical sight recedes the speaker could be suggesting a failure of perception – the inability to see through to the glory of the next life

-          Hopeless -> cant go to heaven / trapped in present life

It was not death, for I stood up where she depicts the nearing of the end ‘when everything that ticked has stopped’ with the metaphor of ‘grisly frosts’.  She is afraid of the ending where she will be drifted away in a boat ‘without’ a ‘report of land’

Techniques

-          The poem is a typical hymn metre with pararhyme on lines 2 and 4 until the final stanza

-          The use of hymn structure perhaps alludes the poem to the criticism of religion

-          The speaker’s message to the ‘King’ who failed to save her from pain, the ‘storm’

-          The speaker conveys incompletely due to the fact that she is trapped between her life and heaven.  This idea is enhanced by the use of pararhymes like ‘Room’ and ‘Storm’.  This indicates the fear inside her to forbids her to construct normally. 

-          She is broken and damage inside and this is clearly reflected in her rhyme scheme.  We see her attempt to search for order in her stable quatrains; however, she has failed to do so as the constant use of parahyme still reflects chaos and distress. 

-          Yet, after constant half rhyme, a full rhyme of ‘me’ and ‘see’ is found in the last stanza, providing a strong sense of conclusion.  Has she found a solution? Perhaps not, the speaker suggests that ‘the Windows failed’ and she ‘could not see to see –‘.  This maybe the implication of the speaker’s surrender.  We sense no hope in the final line of the poem. 

Similar to What mystery pervades a well, a pararhyme of ‘glass’ and ‘face’ suggests Dickinson’s fear of the ‘abyss’s face’ and the invisible entrapment of the ‘lid’

Others: the idea of unfamiliarity

-          Only ‘eyes around’, not relatives, nor friends

-          This suggests her lack of connection towards her current life – she is isolated

-          This might emphasise her fears as she intensifies her want of a better life after her current one which she does not have any connection to

-          She implikes that the ‘eyes’ have ‘wrung dry’ when she died, conveying that she has no more emotion to the people around her. 

-          This idea is furthermore elaborated as she ‘[wills]’ her ‘keepsakes’ and claims them as ‘patrons’ of her, displaying her confused state of mine due to her fear – she oddly weights objects over human beings. 

-          This sense of unfamiliarity there shows her difficulty to survive in a world by herself with no one to depend on but her ‘keepsakes’.

Likewise, in Because I could not stop for Death where she has more attachment towards the figure of ‘Death’ than the people, the ‘children’, the fields of grazing grain’ and the ‘setting sun’ in the world.  This conveys her sense of unfamiliarity.  She suggests that ‘the day’, her last day of life is fearful and ‘centuries’ in her grave ‘fears shorter than the day’.