Death in Poetry

Paper Summary:

Through an analysis of the poetry of these famous writers, this paper explains how each writer illustrates the diverse ways that death touches each one of us.

From the Paper:

"In her poem, "I Heard a Fly Buzz in my Head," Dickinson imagines what the first few moments after death might be like. Interestingly, the speaker is looking back on her death, which forces her to write a poem that depends heavily on her senses. The first thing we realize about this poem is the fact that the poet does not see death as something magnificent that has happened to her. Instead, death is nothing if ordinary. This notion goes against the traditional idea of passing into a glorious afterlife. She hears no trumpets; instead she is keenly aware of the "stillness in the air" (Dickinson 3). At the end of the poem, the speaker becomes aware of a "blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz" (13). One of the most eerie aspects of the speaker's death is the fly and how it distracts her even from her death. The fly is probably the most important aspect of the poem, which might indicate the speaker's sees death as an insignificant event that draws flies. The speaker's mood is surprising in that she treats her own death as just another occurrence. She is clearly aware that she is dead and this in no way shocks or horrifies her. Her attitude toward death is cavalier and from this, we assume that she feels no angst over her own death, whenever it may occur."

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