The two poems by Emily Dickinson, "I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died" and "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," revolve around the theme of dying. Though the two do centralize themselves around death they both have slightly different messages or beliefs about what is to come after passing on. By discussing each of the poems and contemplating their meanings, the reader should have a better understanding of the message Dickinson is trying to send to her audience and a much greater aspect of what could be waiting for us after we die. When Dickinson writes in her first line, "I heard a fly buzz - when I died" (888); it grasps the reader's attention by describing the moment of her death. After reading the first stanza the reader can almost hear or sense the feeling of the fly buzzing in such a still and quiet room. The contrasting sounds of the noisy fly and the stillness of the air draw the reader deeper into the poem. The image created by this contrast is like the color white on the color black. It stands out immensely and catches the reader's eye. After the first stanza the reader is in full knowledge of the death of the poet. The second stanza reads, "The eyes around had wrung them dry, and breaths were gathering firm for that last onset, when the king be witnessed in the room" (888). .
This stanza deals with how God is brought upon by the speaker's death. Onlookers surround the dead body and seem to be looking for clues to what may await them when it is their turn to perhaps pass onto another world. In stanza three the speaker is preparing for her journey to pass into the great beyond. Dickinson writes, "I willed my keepsakes, signed away what portion of me be assignable and then it was, there interposed a fly" (888). After already dying the speaker feels that it is no longer a must to have the possessions that most living people deem necessary and leaves them behind as her soul comes closer to its fate.
