Emily Dickinson’s Poem “I Heard a Fly Buzz” Essay

The poem is about the feelings of the person who is dying. The author described the last few minutes right before the death. It appears that the person was very lonely in his life because he has no fear of death and, moreover, is waiting for the moment “when the King be witnesses in his Room” when he sees God in heaven. The author has written some of the words starting with a capital letter:

Stillness, Room, Air, Heaven of Storm, Eyes, Breaths, Onset, King, Room, Keepsakes, Fly, Buzz, and Windows. These words are capitalized because they are the most important. For example, the Buzz of the Fly is the only sound uniting the dying person with a life.

The Fly is annoying him because he is ready to die, and the Fly distracts from the thoughts about death; it is an obstacle on the way to light. The main theme of the poem is that there is no need to be afraid of death; everybody should have hope for existence after death.

Ben Jonson “An Elegy on the lady Jane Paulet”

Johnson writes about the glory of death; he admires death and glorifies the way people die as if death is the victory over life. The first line of the poem is “How did she leave the world, with what contempt!” is a very unusual reaction to a death. Most people regret when someone dies while Jonson admires death. It is obvious that the woman described in the poem died because of the disease because doctors have failed to help her. This is how the author describes the treatment: “put your hottest caustics to, burn, lance or cut.” These words may indicate that when the person is already dying, any kind of medical treatment is torture of the body. Even though the author admires death, he agrees that the death of a close person is not a joyful event (“sad parents’ tears”). Jonson’s poem raises the idea that there is life after death, and death is not the end of everything.

“When tomorrow starts without me.”

The poem is aimed to comfort the person who lives through the death of a friend or a lover. The theme of fear of death is also raised, “I’d always thought I didn’t want to die.” Nobody wants to die because nobody knows what is happening after death. The author is probably a Christian because he describes the Christian point of view on life after death: God grants the promised eternity to believes, the forgiveness of sins, and the totally new life. To comfort his friend, the author writes, “do not think we’re far apart, for every time you think of me, I’m right here in your heart.” This is a very nice conclusion for the poem about death.

“Is death the end?”

”Death is the road. Life is the traveler. The soul is the guide.” This line has greatly impressed me with the depth of comparison. People realize the value of time and life only when they understand that death is close. “Time without the aspiration of life is useful.” Through these words, the author wanted to say that it is worth it to value every moment of life, to enjoy happy hours, forget about the sad minutes, and be grateful for being alive. “Our mind thinks of death. Our heart thinks of life. Our soul thinks of Immorality.” These words are so true! Everybody has thought about death at least once, while these thoughts were mixed with the desire to live and the hope that the soul will persist after death.

“The Dying Christian to his Soul”

It is not easy to understand what the author wanted to say through his poem.

Probably, he just wanted to show what death is (“what is this absorbs me quite? Steals my sense, shuts my sight, drowns my spirits, draws my breath?”). The poem is full of questions to the soul, while there are no answers to them.

The line “O the pain, the bliss of dying” is the parallel to the sufferings of Christ at the moment of his death. Jesus suffered, but his sufferings resulted in eternal life for humankind. It appears that the author refers to his physical pain as happiness because he experiences the pain just as Jesus did.