28 pages • 56 minutes read
Emily DickinsonI heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1896A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Paradox
Dickinson famously ends “I heard a Fly Buzz—when I died—” with the paradox of “I could not see to see” (Line 16). A paradox acts as a contradiction, a puzzle to solve to find its deeper meaning. If one can use their eyes to look, aren’t they already “seeing?” Why would it need to be confirmed? If they cannot see, would it not make more sense to say, “I realized,” or “I sensed I could not see?” However, Dickinson is playing with the word, see’s multiple connotations. The first see means the act of looking with one’s eyes. The second “see” articulates the speaker’s understanding or receiving revelation. Dickinson layers the speaker’s multiple dying experiences by layering different meanings with the same word. Physically, as the speaker’s body shuts down, she no longer possesses the sensory tools to engage and analyze the world around her (Line 15-16). Emotionally, she attempts to observe as she did in life but no longer can. In doing so, the speaker clings to life and a clear understanding of how it functions (Line 16). The paradox expresses the horror that the only way the speaker can explain what is happening is through terms that can no longer fully articulate or explain the experience (Line 16).
Enjambment
Dickinson mirrors the slowness and anticipation of being in death’s final stages through enjambment—which is when one line of poetry runs into the following line after a line break as there are no punctuations to stop it. “And Breaths were gathering firm / For that last Outset” (Lines 6-7). Dickinson visually portrays the timescale and the wait for the traumatic event with no guaranteed schedule through the enjambment between “firm” and “For” (Lines 6-7). With the mourners, the reader gathers their breath and thoughts for the subsequent line.
Meter
Dickinson employs iambic trimeter and tetrameter lines as the meter for “I heard a Fly Buzz — when I died”. The meter structures the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables throughout the poem. Meanwhile, an iambic meter flows over two syllables from unaccented syllable to accented syllable. Poets measure iambs in two ways, quantitative and accentual. Quantitative depends on how long a speaker takes to pronounce a syllable, however this version of measurement is rarely employed by English-language writers. Accentual, on the other hand, relies on where the speaker emphasizes a word. The iambic trimeter variation contains three iambs per line, while a tetrameter contains four.
Dickinson’s use of these metrical forms mirrors the forms of stanzas found in hymns—four beats, three beats, four beats, three beats. By calling upon this traditional scheme, Dickinson infuses tension into her poem, reaching at the underlying worry felt by the speaker. While the speaker may invoke tranquility and rationality through implicitly referencing the Bible, the content of the piece reveals the speaker has serious doubts despite their religious knowledge.
Related Titles
By Emily Dickinson
