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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 -

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 3. What images does the poet use? How do the images relate to one another? Do these images form a unified pattern (a motif) throughout the poem?

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 3. What images does the poet use? How do the images relate to one another? Do these images form a unified pattern (a motif) throughout the poem?

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Dickinson uses images of a peaceful environment, the light shining through the window, the speaker laying down on their resting place, and their family surrounding them as they are about to pass. These images all relate to one another because they cohesively create a peaceful, calm, and tranquil mood. However, these images do not form a pattern because, in the end, this pattern of beautiful tranquility is broken by the ugly fly who flies in at the end, breaking the pattern as well as the mood. Every image used before the fly worked together to create set the mood, Dickinson strategically set this mood to set up the entrance of the fly to create more meaning to the poem.

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1. What is the poem’s tone? Which words reveal this tone? Is the poem ironic?

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1. What is the poem’s tone? Which words reveal this tone? Is the poem ironic?

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In the poem, the tone of the poem is like a calm, dreamy and relaxed poem making the speaker sound more like a ghost. The further the poem dives deeper the closer the speaker was to death, maintained throughout from going through one stanza to another. "What portion of me be Assignable - and then it was There interposed a Fly" She is aware of what happens around her but she was not overly emotional about it. The fly's buzz is described as “uncertain” and “stumbling,” and it indicates the way the sound of a fly can move in and out of human consciousness, making this part of the poem seem rather ironic.

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5. Are there any symbols? What do they mean? Are they universal symbols or do they arise from the context of this poem?

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5. Are there any symbols? What do they mean? Are they universal symbols or do they arise from the context of this poem?

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The fly, disturbing the peace of the death of the speaker, is a symbol that arises from the context of the poem, shown throughout the stanzas. The "buzzing of the fly” refers to the presence of death, and that death can never have peace and tranquility because death is dark. "With Blue - uncertain - stumbling Buzz - Between the light - and me -" The dashes mostly refer to the disturbance of the fly, buzzing around the speaker as the speaker nears death the fly being the last thing she will ever see. The “fly,” however, which comes between the light and her, represents the last vision she sees before death, or it could be the death that has put a full stop before her life.

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 6. What is the theme (the central idea) of this poem? Can you state it in a single sentence? Elaborate on your idea.

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 6. What is the theme (the central idea) of this poem? Can you state it in a single sentence? Elaborate on your idea.

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The theme that best fits this poem is, "there is no such thing as a painless and pretty death." I think this theme fits this poem because the speaker is about to die and they are expecting to die in a peaceful environment. The light is shining through the window, their family is surrounding them, their will has been signed, all seems to be in order and in place. "The Stillness in the Room - Was like the Stillness in the Air -" Suddenly this grotesque fly flies into the scene and blocks the light, so the last thing that the speaker sees before they pass is an annoying buzzing fly, because in Dickinson's writing when one loses the ability to see the light, they have died. This really fits the theme because their death did not occur as expected, showing the uncertainty and unexpectedness of death.