Emily Dickinson¡¯s Views on Death
...discussed and famous poems due to its ambiguous, unique view on death. In this poem, Emily points out three things on death. First, death is natural and inevitable, so although she could not stop for Death, He still kindly stopped for her. Second, death is brought down to a personal level in which instead of the more popular view of Death being a brutal, cruel, and cold devil, Death is characterized as a kind, comfortable, and warm friend: He kindly¡slowly ¡knew no haste... So the whole process of dying becomes a colorful, delightful, and hopeful trip with Death, in which she put away her labor and her leisure and also in which she passed the school children strove, the fields of gazing grain, and setting sun. Third, death is not the end of a soul¡¯s journey. Because she is accompanied by both Death and Immortality: The Carriage held but just Ourselves£And Immortality: life is a never-ending journey. The theme of this poem becomes clear when it is analyzed in the three aspects above: because death is natural and unstoppable, because death is an intimate friend, and because death brings immortality and eternity, so there is no afraid of death. From the theme, something of belief of afterlife can be easily sensed. No matter how and what Emily expresses in this poem, her views on death get a completely change in another poem I heard a Fly buzz£when I died£,which reflects Emily¡¯s disbelief in heaven or any form of afterlife. 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£ In this poem, Emily imagines her own deathbed scene with the family and friends surrounding, waiting for God¡¯s arrival, but a fly buzzing upon the last puff of her life. So the significance of the buzzing fly is the key to understand the views on death she showed in this poem. Two things, with the first to be the death concept in nineteenth century, and the second to be Emily¡¯s attitude toward a fly can determine the significance of the buzzing fly. In those decades, death is supposed to be an experience of awe. It is the moment when God takes up the soul, departing the body. Hence people gather at the bedside to wait for the moment when the ¡®King¡¯, God or Death, ¡®be witnessed¡¯, and the dying assigns away all ¡®keepsakes¡¯ but the expectations of the soul being taken by the God and the body by Death. So the deathbed moment is tremendously ...