Journal #28 More Emily Dickinson

In Emily Dickinson's poem, "I Heard a fly buzz when I Died", she is coming to terms with her death. There is an absolute stillness in the air and in her body. The people that mourn her are anticipating her death in the calmness, and, when she gives up her earthly attachments, she sees a fly buzzing through air. She would have passes away in utter silence, but the fly interposes on her serene passing. The fly seems to represent something of insignificance playing a significant role. It is an unimportant insect in life, but it symbolizes something of importance that cuts her off from the living world. From the beginning of the poem, the author has established a complete image of the setting. There is an overbearing calmness in the deceased and in the air. She also uses imagery to describe the insignificant fly. The fly is described "with blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz" so that the reader gets a good idea of what it looks like. It is not confident in its movements and it is stumbling, but even these imperfected movements distract the dying woman on her death bed. There does not seem to be a very strong spiritual message from this poem. The woman could be thinking about what will happen after she dies, like whether her soul will go to Heaven or if anything at all will happen, but she is thinking about a fly in her last moments. It is sort of ironic that a person could be living their whole life, not knowing the purpose, meaning, or significance of their existence, and when they could be analyzing their every action they are thinking about a bug. The fly could then be a representation of her. She is an insignificant being in the whole scheme of life, but she could have a profound effect on someone else or something else. It seems to be saying that anything, no matter how small or seemingly unnecessary, has some sort of importance in the world.