I heard a Fly buzz – when I died – Themes

Mortality is definitely the big theme in "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died," its whole reason for existing. Dickinson uses the poem to explore all kinds of things about death. She thinks about how it...

The theme of Family is interesting because we don’t hear about it directly, but we know it has to be there. Family is (hopefully) a big part of a deathbed scene in "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I...

"I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died" isn’t a normal nature poem in any way. No fluffy clouds or bubbling streams here. But Dickinson does spend a lot of time on that fly. In a lot of ways, itR...

Spirituality is another theme that’s lurking around the edges. "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died" deals with death and what comes after, and the speaker herself is dead. Because of that, we pre...