Dying
I heard a fly buzz when I died;The stillness round my formWas like the stillness in the airBetween the heaves of storm.
The eyes beside had wrung them dry,And breaths were gathering sureFor that last onset, when the kingBe witnessed in his power.
I willed my keepsakes, signed awayWhat portion of me ICould make assignable, -- and thenThere interposed a fly,
With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,Between the light and me;And then the windows failed, and thenI could not see to see.
Words in this poem
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- heaves n.
- A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dying is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete, Project Gutenberg ebook #12242; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emily Dickinson, Dying, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/dying-2.html, id L03817.
Form and metre
Dying is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A died · formA · air · stormA
- 3 -A-A away · iA · then · flyA
- 4 -A-A buzz · meA · then · seeA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I heard a fly buzz when I died; | 8 | ········ |
| The stillness round my form | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Was like the stillness in the air | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Between the heaves of storm. | 6 | ······ |
| The eyes beside had wrung them dry, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And breaths were gathering sure | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| For that last onset, when the king | 8 | ···/···· |
| Be witnessed in his power. | 8 | ·/˘˘··/˘ |
| I willed my keepsakes, signed away | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| What portion of me I | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Could make assignable, -- and then | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| There interposed a fly, | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Between the light and me; | 6 | ······ |
| And then the windows failed, and then | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I could not see to see. | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.