Explanation+for+I+heard+a+fly+buzz-when+I+died

After re-reading each stanza many times over, my partner and I came up with our interpretation of Dickinson's poem titled I heard a fly buzz-when I died.

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's poem**

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 —

1. She is dying by herself in a quiet, peaceful place and it is so silent, and empty of distractions that she can hear the softest sound, like a fly. The stillness in the room allows her to pay attention to the smallest details.
 * Our Explanation**

2. She is on her last few breaths of life and then the last bit of sickness was done because God (king) was with her.

3. She had given away every little bit of herself but then the fly somehow brought a bit of her back (like back to reality).

4. When the fly started to stumble it was sign that it was dying OR maybe it ran into the window and died (???) and she starting becoming weaker as well. 1203034008

My explanation. She heard a fly buzz as she lay dieing, making it very quite in the room. She was all alone in silence on the death bed, a similar condition one might feel if they were in the eye of a storm. This could be justified by the idea that you would be alone in the eye of a storm because of all the devastation it may have caused and there is nothing left to make a sound. She was on her last round of peace and life, soon would be the rest of the storm to finish her. She had wrung her eyes dry from looking around. She could just close her eyes and embrace darkness, but she is waiting for something and isn't letting go. She even is gathering her breath, it's hard to breath but she is determined. She knows there isn't much time left, but she is waiting for, “when the King Be witnessed – in the Room”. King could be in reference to her God, making its final judgment onto her. She was ready for this death. In preparation she wrote out her will, giving away her possessions to those she desired. As she lay ready for death, a fly separated her from the light. The light is associated with a near death experience, seeing a bright light right before you die. The fly had an uncertain stumbling buzz, I understand this as, at her last moment she felt scared and not ready for death. Soon after that moment, her windows shut, ending her vision. Her windows clearly mean her eyes, and she then dies. 1203048033

My explanation. She was near death and time around her froze, everyone that once cared about her cannot cry anymore, because they were all once saddened about her change. The only thing that was with her before she was going to die was the fly in her room. She was ready to accept that it was her time to die because either in her mind or in writing she knew what she wanted to give all of her possesions to. While she was thinking all of these things, the fly was always right there. With the fly always being by her, it might have been her sign that death was near. The fly was between her and the light to the end of the tunnel(life), and with that the sights all around seemed to disappear and finally she approach her death, with the only thing/person with her, the buzzing fly. 1203131097

At first when i read this poem, i was so confused about the fly. I saw no real connection between the fly and death. But after having a discussion in class, we came to the conclusion that the fly symbolizes death. Flys always come and eat the remains of other animals or beings. So, in the poem, the fly knew that she was about to die and was coming. The King, which symbolizes God is coming near because she is comign to heaven. In the poem, she basically talks about what happened when she was dying.

I think that this poem is strange. Her poem talks about all of the effects of dying, but not the effects that we would think of usually. Like i said, i think this is strange, but so unique at the same time. Out of all of the poems and authors that i've read from, she seems to write about outside of the box ideas and i think that's so cool, just being different about something so original. 1203279865ape2

In my opinion, I also think that Emily is trying to express her feelings about death. I think she is dying inside, emotionally not physically. She has so much pain and negative thought that every little distraction haunts her. Even the quiet buzzing sound of a fly is making her go crazy. Also, the fly might symbolize death. Maybe the fly is what is bringing her into a state of pain and termination. The buzzing sound makes her think about death and when it will come or how it will come. Dickinson has more emotion then i thought, she hides her REAL meaning in her poems, they arn't very straight forward. It's more read between the lines material. Good news is, is that it makes you think! 1203612374

I liked this poem although I thought it was a little hard to understand. This poem starts off with talking about hearing a fly buzz when she dyed. I think this means that the person was dying and no one was in her room except for this fly. And it was so quite she could even hear the tiny buzz of a fly. There was also some discussion in my class about how the fly could be God. This kind of makes since to me too, because the buzzing could be like God calling this person into heaven. Also in a later stanza they talk about the fly as a king which leads more evidance that Emily could have meant God, because God is sometimes called King. Another comparison in this poem is windows and eyes. In the last stanza it says...

And then the Windows failed — and then I could not see to see —

These windows are really the eyes of the dying person, and they are fogging up, until the person couldn't see anymore, which means that the person was dying and shutting their eyes. I liked this poem and overall I think I did a good job figuring out the meaning. 1203867803

__ My explaination of this poem was: 1st stanza she begins the poem by telling of how it was so absoloutely silent in the room she could hear the quietest noise like a fly buzzing. This shows how solemn and quiet she thinks death to be. 2nd stanza first tells of how many people are crying in the room like when someone is dying everyone just stands around and grieves. Then it says that a king is going to be witnessed I believe that this king would be God like once she dies she will go to heaven and be with him. 3rd stanza is about how she is getting her affairs in order like finishing her will, basically preparing herself to die. But then it goes back to the fact that there is a fly in the room. 4th stanza first describes what the fly looks like. Then she finally the dies, the windows failed meaning her eyes closed and she was dead. 1203884801

In Emily Dickinson's poem I Heard a Fly Buzz, I think the feeling of death being present in the room is the overall tone. The tie in between death and the flies buzzing should be recognized in a different aspect. The buzzing is not something that the average person would notice, but when reading a poem about death, anything can be seen. As the voice in the poem is painting the picture of a funeral, the reader becomes more in tune to the idea of death through the use of symbols when the voice speaks about the mourners who have gathered, the sound of a flies buzz, and the closing of the window. Within the poem Dickinson uses comparisn language to her advantage, using it to help her explain the picture of there being a sad moment in time. The usage of the past tense when setting the scene where all the people were standing around grieving was done well through her choose of words. When using the word wrung it helps to suggest that the grieving is over for now, and it is now time to take control over their breathing and move on. Also when the voice is speaking of dieing, death is referred to signing away what he would have left to give of what at least be worth giving away. 1203981811

This poem I found is very strange, Emily always seem to come up with these crazy yet very creative ideas about events or topics. I believe in this poem that the fly does symbolize death, in a way I think they relate in a weird sense of nature that what comes from the earth is returned to the earth and that’s part of a flies job is to help with that cycle. I believe that the king is God to and that the room is heaven, or the entryway to heaven. There are many parts in this poem that lead you to believe she is tlaking about death besides the part when she said she died. she hinted or used a interesting phrase to realate to death. She said she signed the part of her that she could away, and i believe that ties everything together in this poem. These ideas are basically what we discussed in class and without that discussion I think I would be lost still. All in all this is a very interesting and signature poem from Emily Dickenson. 1203983152

I thought that this poem was also very strange. I still don't understand this poem, it makes no sense to me. I thought that it meant that when she died she was on her death bed and it was completely silent and she was looking back on her life. Then an angel appeared to take her away to heaven. That is how I understood it and that the fly was just there because I could not find a meaning to the fly being there. The fly does not seem relevant to death at all.

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This poem is indeed unusual, but I think I understand it. It's jsut another representation of her thoughts of what she thinks death will be like. This one is a bit different from the others, because this one talks about a person dying of a long-term illness. "The Eyes around — had wrung them dry — And Breaths were gathering firm..." says how those around her were waiting for her death, like they knew it was the end. In the last stanza it says what the specific dying feels like; everything just drifts away and she lost all connection with the world around her. This poem is very well done in my opinion, and I like reading all of the different interpretations of an afterlife and what that would feel like.

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What this poem describes the small distractions that go on mentally when you are going through very important and crucial moments in life, in this case, death. The poem takes the object of a fly and compares it to death. At first Dickinson says that there is a fly buzzing around when she is in the moment of death. The fly was distraction from letting the narrator see the light of heaven and she is unable to reach towards it becuase the fly is in the way. i believe because the fly was in the way and she couldn't focus enough to get into heaven, she goes to hell becuase it says "and then the Windows failed-- and then i coult not see to see." And because hell is described as dark and bad, she could not "see" in the darkness of hail, and hell is sometimes described as wehre you go when you fail from going to heaven. 1203998594

A poem like this is one of my huge pet peeves. People talking about things they really dont know anything about. She can't know anything about death or what it will be like and nobody does. It will be something we will always wonder about and it will have to stay that way until we actually do it. This poem and the one about her riding in a carrige with death just really end up annoying me. i can make a vague but decent relation to the world today with this poem. This just reminded me of our retreat day and every other assembly i have had about racism since first grade. I look back at them and they really annoy me. Now dont get me wrong i understand it is huge issue but who are these people trying to fool when they try to talk to me about racism. When a rich white guy from the northern suburbs of Chicago (Mr. Fitz) tries to talk to me about racism i just have to laugh at him. He has never expierenced racism. I think he went to Carmel when he was in high school (but im not sure) and if Carmel is anything back then like it is today i really dont think there is any kind of serious racism so where is he getting his experience in racism? a book? I just cant take that seriously. To make an impression on me i need to see someone who has witnessed this stuff first hand or at least second hand or i wont ever really listen. 1204072171

A poem like this really gets your mind thinking about details you would not normally pay attention to. This poem is pretty much saying that when you are dead or about to pass away your mind pays attention to things you would normally either brush off or not pay attention to. This shows that when she was about to die she payed attention to the smallest detail, a little fly buzzing overhead. I agree with agr because she does not know what it feels like to die and she has never experienced it because she would not have had time to write about it. So she pretty much assumes what it would be like and i dont like that. I mean some medafors are okay but not things that have to deal with dying or about to die. Like i said before i did like this poem but i did not like how she assume what death is like. She may have sat alone without a sound in a room before and noticed a fly but how does she know that you would notice that when i am about to die i dint think i would pay attention to a little fly i would look back at my experience on llife. 1204250022

This is a pretty good poem you just have to read for detail. In this poem Dickinson is dying by herself in a peaceful place and it is so silent, and empty that she can hear the softest sound, like a fly. The stillness in the room allows her to pay attention to the smallest details. It is like right before she died her senses had a greater power. Then she starts talking about an after life. Is there one, all of the possibilties. I think that the King in this story is infact God. "The Eyes around — had wrung them dry —" This means to me that other people like family or friends were crying and done and are in the process of recovering because they are done crying. Then she signed away her things which means she had made a will to distribute her things. I think that when it says her Windows failed it is funny because she is not blaming it on her she is like those darn windows when it is her eyes that are slowing closing to her death. 1204258634