Critical analysis of I heard a fly buzz; Wounded deer; and From cocoon forth a butterfly by Emily Dickinson - Research Paper Example

? of your of the Critical analysis of ‘I heard a fly buzz’; ‘Wounded deer’; and ‘From cocoon forth a butterfly’ by Emily Dickinson What is striking in the work of Emily Dickinson, as one search it for her beliefs is the frank, thoughtful, sometimes playful, but always direct approach which she makes to the problems of life, death and immortality. Her concern with these problems and the expressions of her judgement that she has made in her own highly individualistic idiom has probably led to the classification of much of her poetry as mystical. (Humiliata, 144) The work and life of Emily Dickinson became known to the world after her death. She led a secluded life and her work is shaped by her individualistic thinking. She mostly concerns herself with themes of: life, death, material and immaterial things, particularly in ‘I heard a Fly buzz’; ‘Wounded deer’; and ‘From cocoon forth a butterfly’. The running them in ‘I heard a fly buzz’ is death and the momentous experience during the final breaths of life. It is an experience of dying and feeling the last remnants of life. Life is associated with the buzzing sound of a fly- a minute living object. Though everything is still around her; yet it feels as if she is surrounded by a storm. The buzzing sound of the fly is contrasted with “heaves of storm” (4). Dickinson employs contrast to enhance the various themes in her poetry. The fly is moving while everything else in the room is still. She doesn’t personify the persons present around her deathbed but focuses on their emotions of grief. She does so purposefully so she could heighten the effect of the revelation of the king in power. ‘King’ could be anything- Christian God, or Death. The second stanza is about visualizing the King: ‘eyes’ (5) and ‘be witnessed’ (8) show how she explains the anticipation of the dying person and the people around him to behold the powerful Death. The third stanza is also about the last moments of life and the giving away of all remnants or keepsakes of life. As she is just about to leave this world, a fly interposes with its buzz. The buzz of the fly stands for a lot of things- for instance, it may stand for the strong connections with life. Even if life is trivial with respect to death or transcendental- it doesn’t let go that easily. The poet can feel life till the last moment. In the last stanza, she symbolizes light as life and darkness as death and the transcendence from light to darkness is gradual and painless. The poet is preoccupied with themes of life and death in this poem. “Death was important to Emily Dickenson. Out of some one thousand and seven hundred poems, perhaps some ‘five to six hundred’ are concerned with the theme of death...” (Nesteruk, 25-43) The first line of the poem startles the reader: ‘I heard a fly buzz when I died;” (1) because this statement apparently doesn’t make sense (no one can feel anything once dead). But the idea behind this is to elucidate the strong connection of life that a person experiences till the last moment. This poem is about feeling that moment where life and death intercede. Death is associated with power, stillness, and darkness. Sound and pictorial imagery is handled very delicately in this poem. The phrase ‘see to see’ is also the culmination of the poem’s complex sound play. It echoes the repetition of ‘stillness’ in stanza 1, and it is the last of the series of sibilants, or hissing sounds (s, sh, z) that run through the poem, building up to the Fly’s ‘buzz’... ... While there are those who see fly as a statement of nihilism that ridicules the notion that death is transcendence, others see the image as more ambiguous. For all its mindless uncertainty, the fly is a symbol of blind, persistent life, and as such, worth clinging to until the very final instant of consciousness. (Leiter, 104) ‘A wounded deer’ is a narrative of a hunter that explains to the poet how a wounded deer behaves when hunted down. The running theme is this poem is also death: “‘T is but the ecstasy of death” (3) Sound and pictorial imagery is used to narrate the hunting experience. The poet uses oxymoron to describe “the smitten rock” (5) and “the trampled steel” (6) that gushes and springs, respectively, just like water. The movement is contrasted with the stillness in this poem. Red colour and blood are used to enhance the pain of the hunted deer. In the poem “I heard a fly buzz”, death was represented as a painless journey to another world. In this poem, the relation of death with hunting is explained in a gory manner. It is not death that moves the emotions of the readers; but the poignancy of the line: “Mirth is the mail of anguish” (9) it evokes the pain and suffering that follows happiness or joy. It also refers to the pain incurred on the deer by the hunter. His joy is killing the deer lies in the suffering of another living being. Emily Dickinson is always concerned with different and opposite emotions. In these poems, she has dealt with the opposite themes of: life and death; mirth and anguish; light and darkness; stillness and storm. Before her death, she had composed well over 1000 brief lyrics, her “letter to the world,” records of the life about her, of tiny ecstasies set in motion by mutations of the seasons or by home and garden incidents, of candid insights into her own states of consciousness, and of speculations on the timeless mysteries of love and death. Her mind was charged with paradox, as though her vision, like the eyes of birds, was focused in opposite directions on the two worlds of material and immaterial values. She could express feelings of deepest poignancy in terms of wit. (Hart) The action of the hunter triggers a series of inevitable actions. The effect of human actions on the life of others can have far reaching and profound effects on nature and the lives of others. “Her imagery reflects an intense and painful inner struggle over many years, and her verse is full of allusions to volcanoes, shipwrecks, funerals, storms, imprisonments, and other manifestations of natural and human violence. “ (Drabble and Stringer) According to Ford, Emily Dickenson ‘was not beautiful yet she had great beauties. Her eyes were lovely auburn, soft and warm, and her hair lay in rings of the same colour all over her head’ ... Emily had a ‘demure manner which brightened easily into fun, where she felt at home.’ But even then, Emily had developed a tendency to withdraw within herself. When strangers came into her midst, she became ‘shy, silent and even deprecating’. Already, it seems, Emily had begun to draw a small circle of intimates around herself and to close out the world. (Lundin, 77) Though Dickinson has mostly written about her personal experiences, yet she is not unaware to the feelings, reactions and outlooks of others. In her poems, she is not alone. She is surrounded by people who have their opinions. This shows that despite adopting highly individualistic approach in her poetry, she is not that self-centred to ignore the presence or opinions of others. In ‘I heard a Fly Buzz’; the people surrounding the deathbed do not have physical forms; yet their eyes and emotions of grief make their presence felt. In ‘The Wounded Deer’, she narrates the hunting experience not of her own but a hunter’s. The third poem ‘From cocoon forth a butterfly’ is a comparison of a lady with a butterfly. The simile is also related to the short spanned life of a butterfly and the duration of youth, life or happiness. ‘From cocoon forth a butterfly/ As Lady from her door’ (1-2) is a beautiful example of the choice of words and imagery. This can also refer to the social coming of the lady. A ‘summer afternoon’ (3) gives the feeling of warmth and light. The purposelessness of the lady is also compared with that of the butterfly that flutters around in the garden. Her parasol contracts just like the wings of a butterfly in a field. The significance of men making hay is to allude to the notions of fertility and sexual desires of men and the lady. The lady has probably gone to attend a party which is referred to ‘Tropic show’. According to the poet, the parties are ‘phantom as herself’ (13) that has no purpose or end. In contrast, she mentions the bee that works hard all day with a purpose of making honey. The industriousness of the bee’s nature is contrasted with the idleness of the lady and the butterfly, and compared with the hard work of the men making hay. The bees worked till sunset and then flew back to their hives. That scene is captured by the poet in another simile: ‘a steady tide’ (22) and ‘extinguished in the sea’ (24). The swarm of bees is just like a high tide that blew everything out of sight: the butterfly, the lady and the farmers and their idle afternoon. The idea behind this poem is to compare and contrast the purposelessness and industriousness of the partying lady and the butterfly, and the bees, respectively. To the poet, life has a meaningful purpose such as that carried out by the bees. Indulging in the beauty of life, frivolity and idleness is the way of people that do not realize the significance of doing something purposeful. The imagination of Emily Dickinson weaves her own world that can be seen through her poetry. Her similes, oxymoron, association with nature, depiction of life and death, and imagery give the readers an insight of her personal life. ...the artist's need to withdraw into the inner world generally culminates in a period of concentrated work in imaginative cognition which has its own climax and denouement. Following these periods, there is a sense of deep fulfilment that enables the artist to reconnect with the world of external others. When we look at the life of Emily Dickinson, we can see a withdrawal that goes far beyond that of the average artist. (Kavler-Adler, 21-38) Work Cited Drabble, Margaret & Jenny Stringer. Ed. "Dickinson, Emily"  The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Oxford Reference Online. 2nd May2011. Web.    Hart, James. "Dickinson, Emily"  The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. Oxford Reference Online. 2 May 2011. Web. Humiliata, Mary. “Emily Dickinson-Mystic Poet?” National Council of Teachers of English.12.3. (Dec 1950):144-149. Kavaler-Adler, Susan. “Emily Dickinson and the Subject of Seclusion”. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis. 51(1991): 21-38. Leiter, Sharon. Critical companion to Emily Dickinson: a literary reference to her life and work. New York: Infobase publishing, 2007. Print. Lundin, Roger. Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief. 2nd edition. Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. Read More