Draw Connections: “I heard a Fly buzz” by Emily Dickinson

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:

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

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

  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?

    Question

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  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?

    Question

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  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?

    Question

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