The symbolism of the poem “I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died” by Emily Dickinson is the most striking aspect of this literary work. Stillness stands for the end of human life, which is something grand and frightening. The poet manages to make the reader see the picture as if they are in a room where someone is dying. The scene is posed as death is something terminal and beyond people’s understanding. The moment of death is captured as “The Stillness in the Room / Was like the Stillness in the Air – / Between the Heaves of Storm” (Dickinson). Stillness can be seen as a perfect symbol of death because it is what living people can see and feel. The poet draws a parallel between the motionless body of the diseased and the stillness that is in the room and in the air.
Another potent symbol of death is the raven in the poem by Edgar Allan Poe. Raven is the symbol of death or rather people’s remembrance and acceptance of this aspect of human life. The poet expresses his concern or rather fear that “the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting / On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door” (Poe). The author can never forget that he is mortal, and the Raven is always on his mind. The pitch-black bird is a symbol of people’s negative attitude towards the end of life. The poet makes it clear that he always remembers about death, and the reader cannot but become knowledgeable about their own fate. The final lines of the poem make the reader look around and see their own Raven and their own soul in its shadow. This symbolism makes the literary work so influential and memorable.
Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily. “I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died.” Poetry Foundation, Web.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Raven.” Poetry Foundation, Web.