Compare Two Poems by Emily Dickinson, Because I Could Not Stop for Death and I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died - Essay Example

John Q. Doe English 344 8 May 2000 “Because I could not stop for Death” and “I heard a Fly buzz” Comparison In “Because I could not stop for Death” and “I heard a Fly buzz,” Emily Dickinson tackles one of poetry’s most enduring themes, death. Most serious poets at some time write about death. Because no human can experience it and then relate the experience, the poet is always approaching the topic a priori. As such, every poet presents death as a different experience based on his or her interpretation.

In her two poems, Dickinson expounds a view of death that is unusual in that it does not represent death as the terminal point of life that most readers expect. Instead, Dickinson presents an afterlife in each poem, though the tone of the poems and their use of metaphor differ. In “Because I could not stop for Death,” Dickinson uses personification to illustrate a kinder view of death. The speaker personifies death by capitalizing the name and using the pronoun “he” to describe it (Dickinson 2).

The speaker presents death as a person so that the reader can relate to the idea in human form. Also, the Death of the poem is not the Grim Reaper of popular depiction. This Death “kindly stop[s]” for the speaker (2). This presentation of death is of great importance in creating an idea of an afterlife in the poem. If death were personified as a figure to be feared, the reader would consequently fear death. However, the speaker wants the reader to feel comfortable with death because it is a journey that continues beyond the grave.

Not only is death personified, he is given an important role as well. He is the only character in the poem other than the speaker, and he is the conductor of the journey from life into death and beyond. The metaphors used in the poem also point toward an afterlife. On the journey to death and beyond, the speaker describes many images that relate to metaphors commonly used to represent human life. In the eleventh line, the speaker passes “the Fields of Gazing Grain” (Dickinson). Writers often use grain and harvest to represent death, but the speaker of the poem is passing these fields on a journey into the afterlife.

In the twelfth line, the carriage passes “the Setting Sun.” Oftentimes, poets employ the metaphor of comparing human life to a day. In this metaphor, the sunset is death. However, in this poem, the speaker continues past the setting sun into darkness. The personification of death and the alteration of conventional metaphors all work to make the reader feel at ease with the end of life. In “I heard a Fly buzz,” Dickinson again uses personification, but in this poem, the speaker personifies a fly instead of death.

Unlike in “Because I could not stop for Death,” the speaker in this poem is experiencing death on a deathbed. As she does, she notes people who are crying around her. However, they do not seem to be important to her. She is most concerned with the fly who buzzed “Between the light – and me” (Dickinson 14). Unlike Death, this Fly is something that troubles the speaker before her death. She notices it in the first lines of the poem, and she describes it as having “interposed” (12).

This Fly, by its actions, has disturbed the speaker’s passage into death. The personified Death in “Because I could not stop for Death” is a friendly carriage man; the Fly in “I heard a Fly buzz” is an interloper in a private time. The difference between the personifications lends the second poem a more somber tone than the first. Similar to “Because I could not stop for Death,” the metaphors in “I heard a Fly buzz” indicate an afterlife. The most prominent metaphor in the poem occurs at its close.

The speaker describes her eyes as “Windows” that failed (Dickinson 15). Most poets employing this metaphor do so in a poem about love, but the speaker here compares eyes to windows in much the same way as Ralph Waldo Emerson does, that is a device for perceiving and then transmitting. Thus, the eyes of the speaker fail, but this is not her death. Instead, she continues to perceive: “I could not see to see” (16). The effect is a paradox. The speaker has lost the ability to see because of her death, but she has only lost the ability to see in the human sense.

She cannot see the people around her or anything else, but the fact that she is able to understand that she can no longer see means that she still has the ability to perceive. Her life continues in a different form than previously, but it still continues. This contrasts with “Because I could not stop for Death.” The speaker of that poem continues in a life very similar to the one before death. Because of this difference in metaphor, the two poems have a different tone, with “I heard a Fly buzz” being the more somber.

Both “Because I could not stop for Death” and “I heard a Fly buzz” are intimate ruminations on death. But, they are different approaches to the subject. Death in “Because I could not stop for Death” is friendly and a journey that the reader should not fear as it will continue into the afterlife. Death, in this poem, is simply a way post on a very long journey. This depiction of death lends the poem a hopeful and expectant tone. Death in “I heard a Fly buzz” comes swiftly and denies the speaker her vision.

It also is disturbed by a Fly. Because of these effects, death in this poem becomes more serious. It is not a journey away from life. It is a deprivation from the senses. In this manner, death is not to be feared, but the tone of the poem becomes less hopeful than “Because I could not stop for Death.” There is an afterlife, but it is unknown by the speaker. Works Cited Dickinson, Emily. "Because I could not stop for Death (712)." Poets.org. The Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 23 Apr 2012.

Dickinson, Emily. "I heard a Fly buzz (465)." Poets.org. The Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 23 Apr 2012.