Comparing Works: Emily Dickinson evidently spent a great deal of time thinking about the nature of pain, dying, and death-she wrote many poems on this subject.

Read these two additional Dickinson poems that treat the subject of death, “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died” and “It was not Death, for I stood up.”

Write a four-paragraph essay comparing these two additional poems to “Because I could not stop for Death-]”. Make an argument about Dickinson’s conception of death and immortality. Is it consistent across the three poems? Does it seem to shift or vary in the poems? Or even within individual poems? Be sure to incorporate the title/number and examples from the poems into the essay. I heard a Fly buzz – when I died – (591).

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 that 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

It was not Death, for I stood up, (355).

It was not Death, for I stood up,

And all the Dead, lie down –

It was not Night, for all the Bells

Put out their Tongues, for Noon.

It was not Frost, for on my Flesh

I felt Siroccos – crawl –

Nor Fire – for just my marble feet

Could keep a Chancel, cool –

And yet, it tasted, like them all,

The Figures I have seen

Set orderly, for Burial

Reminded me, of mine –

As if my life were shaven,

And fitted to a frame.

And could not breathe without a key,

And ’twas like Midnight, some

When everything that ticked – has stopped –

And space stares – all around –

Or Grisly frosts – first Autumn morns,

Repeal the Beating Ground –

But most, like Chaos – Stopless – cool –

Without a Chance, or spar

Or even a Report of Land

Besides Death, what other ideas or objects are personified in the poem?

What scenes does the speaker describe passing outside the carriage window? What does she notice?

What is the speaker wearing?

Maximum 300 words