READ AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS:

TITLLE: 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—

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—

QUESTION:

1. This poem takes the perspective of a person on his or her deathbed. How do other people appear in the poem? Why do you think Dickinson reduces them to their "Eyes" and "Breaths"?

2. What exactly does the buzzing of the fly interrupt? How is this speaker preparing for death? What does he or she expect to happen at the end of life?

3. What do you think happens in the last stanza of the poem? Explain what light, windows, and seeing mean to you in this context.

Draw Connections: “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—” and “Because I could not stop for Death—”

Dickinson wrote many poems on the subject of death, and they often diverge from the standard conventions of the elegy, a poem that remembers and mourns someone who has died. Instead, in these two poems she invents the persona of someone experiencing death firsthand, and in doing so, she comes up with two very different scenarios. Does the moment of death feel like a continuation of our mundane existence or an entry into a more fantastic realm? Is it a cause for fear or for frustration, or is it a chance for new exploration? Dickinson cannot find a single answer to these questions, but she uses poetry to imagine many possibilities.

Document links: screenshots

Annotated text of “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—”

Annotated text of “Because I could not stop for Death—”

QUESTION:

1. Comment on the workings of time in these two poems. How much time goes by in the course of each poem? How does the movement of time influence the poem’s view of death?

2. The speaker of “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—” discusses preparations for death. What clues does Dickinson give us in “Because I could not stop for Death—” that the speaker was unprepared?

3. Dickinson tends to rhyme the second and fourth lines of each stanza. Take note of where the stanzas in each of these poems rhyme, where Dickinson uses slant or imperfect rhyme, and where she drops rhyme altogether. What connections do you see among the pairs of rhyming words? Is there any significance to those places where she breaks away from the rhyme scheme?

READ AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS:

TITLE: I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—
AUDIO: (https://youtu.be/1DW7oh2CWBk) 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—

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—

QUESTIOSNS:

1. To read along or not to read along. Either way is fine but for different reasons. If you read the text for the first time as you listen, you’ll likely find it more accessible and fluid, particularly if the syntax and style is unfamiliar to you or is set in a remote historical period. On the other hand, a first reading together with a recording might also short-circuit your own initial response to the work and interpretation of it. If this is a second or third reading as you listen, you’ll hear more clearly the interpretive possibilities the reader has chosen to emphasize, thereby making you more aware of the work’s (and the reader’s) subtleties. Which option did you choose? How do you think it impacted your understanding of the text? Do you wish you had selected the other option?

2. Consider how well the reader’s voice and overall style of delivery is matched to the literary work. Describe the appropriateness of any regional accents, inflection, pronunciation, volume, rhythm, and pacing of the reading in order to explain how the lines are spoken serve to reinforce what is said. The degree of appropriateness becomes readily apparent if you imagine, for example, how you would describe the difference between a rendition of Emily Dickinson’s “I heard a Fly Buzz—when I Died” by Meryl Streep compared with, say, Sylvester Stallone (or Streep performing an audiobook version of First Blood). How well do you think this reader’s voice and style match up with this work? Why do you think so?

3. Determining the tone of a text is often the most challenging and important interpretive skill we develop as readers. Listening to a work read aloud, however, can be enormously helpful in establishing tone when we hear the nuances made apparent by an effective reader orally interpreting the text. Tone can convey any of the full range of human emotions. What do you think the reader’s tone contributes in this audio recording? How does it impact the way you understand the text?

4. If the oral reading isn’t what you expected, if it disappoints or surprises you, try to explain as specifically as possible why the performance differs from your expectations. Use the text to validate your own response, and indicate particular elements of the recording to support your assessment of the recording