I heard a Fly buzz—when I died

E88120

American literature work lyric poem poem

"I heard a Fly buzz—when I died" is a renowned lyric poem by Emily Dickinson that meditates on the moment of death through the startlingly mundane image of a fly interrupting the speaker’s final passage.

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Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form	Occurrences
I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –	1

Statements (50)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	American literature work ⓘ lyric poem ⓘ poem ⓘ
associatedAuthorWork	The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson ⓘ
author	Emily Dickinson ⓘ
canonicalStatus	major work of Emily Dickinson ⓘ widely anthologized ⓘ
centralImage	a fly ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
form	short lyric ⓘ
genre	lyric poetry ⓘ meditation on death ⓘ religious poetry ⓘ
language	English ⓘ
lineCount	16 ⓘ
literaryMovement	American Romanticism ⓘ Transcendentalism-influenced poetry ⓘ
metricalPattern	common meter ⓘ hymn meter ⓘ
narrativePerspective	first person ⓘ
openingLine	I heard a Fly buzz—when I died— ⓘ
periodOfComposition	19th century ⓘ
rhymeScheme	slant rhyme ⓘ
speaker	a dying person ⓘ
stanzaCount	4 ⓘ
studiedIn	American literature courses ⓘ poetry analysis courses ⓘ
subjectMatter	the boundary between life and death ⓘ the experience of dying ⓘ the failure of expected transcendence ⓘ
symbol	fly as interruption of transcendence ⓘ fly as symbol of decay ⓘ fly as symbol of the mundane ⓘ
theme	afterlife ⓘ death ⓘ dying ⓘ faith and doubt ⓘ perception at the point of dying ⓘ the moment of death ⓘ the ordinary versus the transcendent ⓘ
tone	ambiguous ⓘ meditative ⓘ solemn ⓘ
usesFigurativeLanguage	imagery ⓘ metaphor ⓘ symbolism ⓘ
usesPunctuation	dashes ⓘ
usesSoundDevice	alliteration ⓘ assonance ⓘ consonance ⓘ

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Emily Dickinson → notableWork → I heard a Fly buzz—when I died ⓘ

A Bird came down the Walk → relatedWorkByAuthor → I heard a Fly buzz—when I died ⓘ

this entity surface form: I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –