Emily Dickenson

[Jay]

So we discussed this poem today in my lit. class, heard several ideas/opinions and now I'd like to hear yours (that is if you're interested and don't have better things to do... eg. read your own assignments ;) )
Have I already mentioned yet I liked Emily's poems? :p
Oh, another question, do you have an opinion why she didn't name her poems? I think were told to think about it back in secondary school but it never came to discussion... and not wanting to annoy the peeps in class with silly questions I didn't ask.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

465

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 –

*edit* spelling :redface:

[mono]

I, too, have always loved Emily Dickinson as oneof my favorite poets of all time. As far as I know, the reason why so many of her poems went left untitled, seemed because she only published two poems during her lifetime out of over 1000 written; the rest she left hidden in her room, wrapped in twine.
The poem oddly reminds me of, ancient philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras' idea of the transmigration of souls in which he thought that every individual soul becomes shared with all of other living things, including other animals, insects, and plants. Dickinson, in the poem, seems to have spent her last breaths devoting her senses to hearing the last of earthly sounds to the incessant buzzing of a fly until her window showed darkness.
Anyway, that is just a little of what I think, and what first comes to mind. Thanks for sharing the brilliant work, Jay.

[Jay]

mono, I would like to ask you what do you think about the last line, "I could not see to see -". If it's meant as "lights going out", in other words the person's dead by the end of the poem, why is there the second 'see' when "I could not see" would be enough to let the reader get the idea the person is no more. And does anyone know any other peot who would like using hyphens as much as Emily did? What is the function of the hyphens in this particular poem? A student in my class said it reminded him of breathing, regarding to the line "Between the Heaves of Storm –", he said it felt like breathing. Can't see how or why but it's his opinion of the hyphens. My opinion ... well, can't really explain but I think in this poem they're making the peom closer to the reader as it seems to be describing the atmosphere in the room, aside of the last hyphen when it made me think there's more of the peom going and would be if the person wouldn not have died, but then what did the speaker could not see. Emily was interested in death in her life, could it be she just didn't know what to write (ie what is it that happens after a person dies) just because she didn't know? I'm shamelessly babbling here now :p.
Thanks mono, for taking the time to reply :).

[mono]

Hello again, Jay. Good question about Dickinson's use of hyphens; I have also inquired her frequency with them. Sometimes, but not always, I have noticed that one fragment before two hyphens will continue the preceding two fragments, such as in the last stanza: "With Blue -" could match also with "Between the light," and "uncertain stumbling Buzz -" with "and me." Though the rule does not work with all of Dickinson's hyphens, I feel it does apply to some.
As for your question of the last line (I would like to hear your interpretation too, if you would like), "I could not see to see," I have a few ideas. I have heard somewhere that, just prior to death, sight becomes often the first sense lost (besides touch), and with her loss of the faculty of sight, she literally could not see. Perhaps with all of the emotion in the poem, she, in her mortal transition, could hardly reminisce over the lost sense; for example, we, as humans, cannot imagine having another sense besides those provided: sight, touch, smell, taste, hearing. She could no longer own the perspective of sight, but only knew that it once existed.
Anyway, that wraps up my explanation, but we all probably have our own interpretations. Thanks again for sharing the work, Jay.

[Jay]

Interesting idea with the hyphens, mono. Will try to apply it on more Emily's poems and see what comes out of it :).
In the class when the teacher asked us what we thought about the last stanza, I got an idea. Maybe because English's not my first languge I'm getting it all wrong, but... anyway, lol. A human usually looks for something during his/her life. Usually it's the well-known question or its kinds, 'why am I here' or 'what's the meaning of life' (not talking about the Hitchhiker now ;)). In my opinion the last line could be some kind of dissapointment, if finished (as I see the line unfinishes, it feels like it to me) it could let the reader know the person dying could not see the meaning of life as they thought (or hoped) they would in the moment of their death. The last line's possibly unfinished for the reader's sake maybe? Or maybe the person did find the answers for their qestions but as being now in different realm could no finish the thought.
That's my 'favorite' way of understanding it. Just that 'I could not see to see -' ... there's just something about it that makes me feel like there's more to it than the person loosing sight :).