Theme of Death: "The last Night that She lived"

The last Night that She lived

It was a Common Night

Except the Dying - this to Us

Made Nature different

We noticed smallest things -

Things overlooked before

By this great light upon our Minds

Italicized - as t'were.

As We went out and in

Between Her final Room

And Rooms where Those to be alive

Tomorrow were, a Blame

That Others could exist

While She must finish quite

A Jealousy for Her arose

So nearly infinite -

We waited while She passed -

It was a narrow time -

Too jostled were Our Souls to speak

At length the notice came.

She mentioned, and forgot -

Then lightly as a Reed

Bent into the Water, struggled scarce -

Consented, and was dead -

And We - We place the Hair -

And drew the Head erect -

And then an awful leisure was

Belief to regulate -

     "The last Night that She lived" contains one of Dickinson's views of death. Dickinson expresses her opinion that death is a common experience but can be devastating to those in personal relation with the dead one. She uses words like "final," "passed," and "infinite" to illustrate death as a ceasing of physical existence, but it is not the end. This poem is written to comfort those who have lost someone. It is as if Dickinson says, "It happens to everyone." People will die and they will be buried by loved ones, just as the dead one in the poem is buried after the funeral.
     The speakers of this poem mention that this funeral takes place on "a common night," or rather, they refer to it as any other night; however, they explain that her passing "made nature different." This sudden occurence feels unnatural to them. As they walk about her house, no words can be spoken for the shock of this travesty overwhelms them all. Some feel that the dead one did not deserve to die.

     Dickinson uses the simile of the reed to decribe the death as graceful, as each of her senses fail. During the burial, each of the speakers feel an "awful leisure." Dickinson uses this oxymoron to describe the speakers's mixed feelings about this death. They feel priveleged to partake in this experience, yet at the same time they are grieved to have ever been affiliated with it. Dickinson suggests here that death is a loss and an opportunity.

Theme of Death: "I heard a Fly buzz - when I died"

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 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 -

     In Emily Dickinson’s “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died,” the speaker takes in the smallest things about their surroundings while on the brink of death. The speaker notices the stillness in the room and refers to it as “...Stillness in the Air - Between the Heaves of Storm.” Dickinson suggests that in the worst of times, one will notice the smallest things, such as the air or the buzzing of a fly. The speaker also mentions the eyes around her being “wrung dry.” This description leads the readers to believe that the speaker is in critical health. The eyes around her have cried profusely to the point where they cannot cry anymore.
     Dickinson suggests that death is a arduous and painful experience for all those involved, but they should not dwell on a passing. The speaker is in a state of tranquility and has willed everything away. In the final scene of the poem, the fly flies between the people gathered around the speaker and light shining through the window. As she notices the light in the windows fade, she realizes that she is dead. Dickinson uses the windows to represent the speaker's eyes as the light leaves them.
     Dickinson expresses that death is a trial all humans must face, but nevertheless, life will go on. Death is the end for one, not all. Dickinson's overall moral is that everyone should spend their last moments by appreciating the little things around them.

Theme of Death: "I died for Beauty - but was scarce"

I died for Beauty - but was scarce

Adjusted in the Tomb

When One who died for Truth, was lain

In an adjoining room -

He questioned softly "Why I failed?"

"For beauty," I replied -

"And I - for Truth - Themself are One -

We Brethren, are," He said -

And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night -

We talked between the Rooms -

Until the Moss reached our lips -

And covered up - our names -

     Dickinson's "I died for Beauty - but was scarce" has a recurring theme of death. The speaker of the poem has died and explains that they have died for beauty. The idea behind the phrase "but was scarce" implies that the speaker died for a purpose but failed in their objective. The speaker mentions another person who died for the purpose of truth. This person is buried beside the speaker and they, the speaker and this other person, discuss death.

     They both conclude that death is a form of failure. The "one who died for truth" asks why he died. The speaker says, "For beauty." The other supposes he also dies for truth and that truth and beauty are one in the same. The two believe that since they have failed in life, they are almost like brothers. They spend the rest of eternity conversing about their failure.

     The general moral of this poem is that one should not waste their entire life trying to reach a goal that will only end in failure. The other person mentioned in the poem died searching for some truth while the speaker died searching for lost beauty. Dickinson implies that the ulimate failure of a long sought-after goal is death.