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Emily Dickinson's Poems: Because I Could Not Stop For Death

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The poems “Because I could not stop for Death” and “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died” by Emily Dickinson both describe death and a journey one takes to get there. In “Because I could not stop for Death” the speaker tells of someones journey of death that did not see it coming and had no time to slow down to notice it. While in the poem “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died” the speaker describes ones journey to death that aware it is coming, someone who is prepared and waiting for it to happen. Death can arrive in many different forms, it is different for everyone and nobody knows or can predict accurately when or how it will come no matter how prepared or not prepared someone is. In “Because I could not stop for Death” Dickinson views death as a …show more content…

The poem takes place in a bedroom where someone is on their deathbed. It is so quiet that a fly is heard buzzing around the room. The speaker is going through the rituals of an expected death, surrounded by family and friends all waiting for death to arrive. The speaker is taking their last breaths and is waiting for God to lead them to the afterlife, “For that last Onset-when the King Be witnessed-in the room”(753). The speaker continues the ritual, willing away all material possessions and then is worried that their soul will not be “Assignable” (753). The speaker is worried that thier soul will not be taken to heaven for all eternity. As the speaker ponders this, the fly interrupts and is not part of this tradition and ritual. The fly is standing between the speaker and the light, interrupting the speakers final thoughts. The fly symbolizes the physical aspects of death and reminds the speaker of this as the speaker loses their breath and sight then passes …show more content…

Both speakers describe what they see and feel. Both poems suggest that there is an afterlife since the speakers are speaking from beyond the grave. In “Because I could not stop for Death” the speaker gives us a viewpoint of someone already in the afterlife. While in “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died” the speaker gives us a viewpoint of someone who is still alive but is about to die. The poems take the reader on a journey of what it is like to be dead and what it is like to be dying. They also remind us that in life, weather you are waiting for death or preparing for it, death will always come sooner or later. Both poems suggest that the only immortality we have is in the afterlife, in

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