to Emily Dickinson's lovers...

[michela]

Today this is my favourite ,but tomorrow who could say it?


I haven't told my garden yet-
Lest that should conquer me.
I haven't quite the strength now
To break it to Bee-

I will not name in the street
For shops would stare at me-
That one so shy-so ignorant
should have the face to die.

The hillsides must not know it-
where i have rambled so-
Nor tell the loving forests
the day that i shall go-

Nor lisp it at the table-
Nor heedless by the way
Hint that within the Riddle
one will walk today-

[CoyoteConBruja]

I think you chose well - suits my mood tonight. I can get lost in her poems.

[Virgil]

I'm an Emily Dickenson lover. You chose a very good there. In fact, last night just before sleep I was reading some in bed. I ran into a couple that I hadn't seen before. But my all time favorite is this one.

I Heard A Fly Buzz


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 the last onset--When the King
Be witness in the room--

I willed my keepsakes--signed away
What portion of me be
Asignable--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.

[Weeping Willow]

I'm an Emily Dickenson lover as well.. and as a matter of fact last night before i went to sleep i took another look at my favorite one because every time i read it it lights a little fire in my, it lights up my hope..

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

[Virgil]

Willow, that is excellent!

[Weeping Willow]

Gracias ...
I just love this poem so much i actually consider making a t shirt with it so that way any time i wear it other people will have the chance reading it as well...

[summer grace]

I love all of her poems, by my favorite is the little known one ''After a hundred years'', which perhaps I should post all of. I have it memorized.

[pan_is_dead]

If you 'have it memorized', why aren't we seeing evidence of it?

How do we even know this poem exists??

[white camellia]

I'm an Emily Dickenson lover. You chose a very good there. In fact, last night just before sleep I was reading some in bed. I ran into a couple that I hadn't seen before. But my all time favorite is this one.

I Heard A Fly Buzz


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 the last onset--When the King
Be witness in the room--

I willed my keepsakes--signed away
What portion of me be
Asignable--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.

i can hardly figure out the intention of that ED inserted such an unpleasant insect in the picture of her death. could it be the allegory of one's feelings at dying moment, or merely a coincidence? what do you think about it, or the reason for it to be your favorite, Virgil? ;)

[Maral]

Wow...i really like you people here, lol. All my friends think it's wierd that i like poetry but do i actually see other human kids like me??? That's great, I adore Emily's poems, she's my favorite cuz she was so unknown to this world, lost in her own little world....
Keep it up people..I write poems too, in fact one of my poems was up for display in the public library...

[Virgil]

i can hardly figure out the intention of that ED inserted such an unpleasant insect in the picture of her death. could it be the allegory of one's feelings at dying moment, or merely a coincidence? what do you think about it, or the reason for it to be your favorite, Virgil? ;)
Camelia, I just saw your question now. She picks a fly for several reasons I can think of: (1) It's like a soul flutterring, (2) It tries to fly through a window at light, and (3) it buzzes like life buzzing along and then stops. Can anyone else think of other reasons?

[Virgil]

Wow...i really like you people here, lol. All my friends think it's wierd that i like poetry but do i actually see other human kids like me??? That's great, I adore Emily's poems, she's my favorite cuz she was so unknown to this world, lost in her own little world....
Keep it up people..I write poems too, in fact one of my poems was up for display in the public library...
Welcome Maral. We're not all all kids here, but there are quite a few too. You can post your poetry in the Personal Poetry forum and then you will get comments on how to improve if you wish. I think you'll like lit net.

[ktd222]

I'm an Emily Dickenson lover. You chose a very good there. In fact, last night just before sleep I was reading some in bed. I ran into a couple that I hadn't seen before. But my all time favorite is this one.

I Heard A Fly Buzz


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 the last onset--When the King
Be witness in the room--

I willed my keepsakes--signed away
What portion of me be
Asignable--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.

A fly has an eerie sound to it: almost like static or the sound produced by a heart monitor when it goes flatline. A constant 'bizzzzzzzzzz...'. I agree with Virgil that this is a fine poem. Imagine from Dickinson's POV that the state of death is but this constant 'bizzzzzz...' sound. And you, in the state of death, only retain the sense of hearing.
Another strange characteristic to this poem is the word 'interposed,' which signifies a disorder of sorts. Dickinson does start this poem from the state of 'death.' It is as if her 'thoughts' about the process of dying and what happens to a person after one has died is half of what she thought it was going to be. When you read the poem, there seems to be a sense of process taking place as you read, movement from state to state, in dying and in death, until the statement there it was interposed a fly which seems to be an intrusion on this process. The fly seems to have implanted itself Between the light--and me.

[white camellia]

Camelia, I just saw your question now.
better late than never. ;)

this is an intelligent poem. i just read it again, and realized that Emily well captured the aura of death. A fly in itself symbolizes the fragility of life. A fly seems lost at a stormy night and got confined within a narrow room. Its situation is similar to a dying person.

[alja123]

"I heard a fly buzz when I died" to me was for a long time THE Dickinson poem with many interpretations.

The fly symbolises decay and filth filling the writer in the moment of death. But also it sometimes seems that the fly is the last living thing the author feels before dying, so the fly is keeping her in touch with this world moments longer - a last reminded of the nature she loved so much. It stands also for annoyance in a solemn moment, and (taking it too far probably) I sometimes think that it represents a small amount of sin standing between the dead lady and god (king, light).

In any case its a great poem, although one of those I dont (and probably never will) identify with

[inuzrule]

I love Emily's poems...but sometimes they are a bit unsettling with the constant theme of death. Currently I have the first stanza of "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" in my head.

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

Are there any good poems of Emily's that do NOT involve death in any way?

[Psycheinaboat]

Hi, Inuzrule!

X.

IN A LIBRARY.
A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is
To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think,

His venerable hand to take,
And warming in our own,
A passage back, or two, to make
To times when he was young.

His quaint opinions to inspect,
His knowledge to unfold
On what concerns our mutual mind,
The literature of old;

What interested scholars most,
What competitions ran
When Plato was a certainty.
And Sophocles a man;

When Sappho was a living girl,
And Beatrice wore
The gown that Dante deified.
Facts, centuries before,

He traverses familiar,
As one should come to town
And tell you all your dreams were true;
He lived where dreams were sown.

His presence is enchantment,
You beg him not to go;
Old volumes shake their vellum heads
And tantalize, just so.

[white camellia]

A very interesting and rare poem (as we know, her main themes include love and nature, faith and doubt, pain and suffering, death) of Emily you offered, Psych! This poem well captured the quality of an antique book which was very knowledgable, illuminating and pleasant. I cannot help imagining her with great affection holding the thick book which has been yellowed by age. She may have written it during her brief education at Amherst Academy?

[alja123]

inuzrule - in short - yes dickinson has poems that have nothing to do with death no matter how you look at them. "Hope is a thing with feathers" is one.

In more detail:
A very large number of her poems focus on death - much more than most other poets. But it certainly is not the only, or I'd even say the biggest theme of her works. It (together with depression) is perhaps the main theme focused on in schools and media probably because it distinguishes her from other poets ALOT so superficially it may seem the dominant theme.
Frankly when I read her work leasurly i tend to overlook the poems which obviously focus on death because I feel i cant understand them too well opting instead on stuff about nature, art and eternity. To me her poetry is unique enought without the death theme.

[summer grace]

I have always like her poems on death, I think she manages to say much that hasn't been thought of before, in an original way. You have to remember that in the 19th century, death was much closer to our world than today. It was something that surrounded Emily, and she even lived by the Amherst cemetery ( not sure if it was when she lived in the Homestead), I believe and saw the funerals. To her era, it was normal to think more of death than we would today. She, was of course, particularly interested in it, but then I think that era encouraged her. She wasn't morbid, just curious about the life beyond, if there was a life. Her favourite book of the Bible was Revelations, that tells you of her interest in such matters.She liked to explore these kinds of questions, which is why she corresponded with Wadsworth, in my opinion.