Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 in Massachusetts. Growing up, she surrounded herself with very few people and rarely left her house. By the 1860s, it had completely isolated itself from the outside world. This had a huge impact on his poetry and his career. Some of his poetry was based on his fascination with death and his skeptical thoughts about immortality. This is where “I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died” fits into Dickinson’s strange personality. Although the title of the poem seems simple, there have been many debates and disagreements about the true meaning of the poem. The way this poem is described by Dickinson gives too many different ways to interpret it. Dickinson uses mechanics and other poetic elements to convey themes of death and private versus public life. Dickinson uses mechanics to allow the ideas and themes of "I Heard a Fly Buzz - When I Died" to come together, making the poem complete. It is written in four stanzas, each containing four lines. Dickinson also uses an ABCB rhyme system. For example, lines fourteen and fifteen rhyme, with the endings “me” and “see”. Dickinson uses perfect iambic meter to keep the rhythm of the poem. Iambic meter means that the lines are each divided into groups of two syllables and places emphasis on the second syllable. Additionally, Dickinson uses strange capital letters throughout the poem (Kellman Steven 621). For example, in lines 1 and 2 "I heard the buzz of a fly - when I died - silence in the room", the words Fly, Stillness and Room are all capitalized in the middle of the sentence. The odd capital letter emphasizes random words thought of in the poem. Additionally, Dickinson uses inaccurate rhymes or biased rhymes in the poem, with words like room and storm. Finally, Dickinson uses an unusual medium...in this poem, there is still a large amount of mystery behind the true meaning that Dickinson was trying to describe. I Heard a Fly Buzzing – When I Died” is one of many poems written by Emily Dickinson, but must be one of the most complex. This poem leaves the reader with the choice of how to take death, with gratitude for what has already happened or with fear for what has not happened. Works Cited Hochman, Jhan. “Critical essay.” Poetry for .ED students. Rudy, Mary.Vol.5.Detroit: Gale, 1999.145-53.Gale Group.Web.February 5, 2014.Kellman, Steven. ED. Magill's Survey of American Literature.Vol.2.San Antonio: Salem Press, 2007.621.Web.February 5, 2014.Leiter, Sharon. Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson. New York: Facts on Record, 2007.103; 133.Print.February 5, 2014.Ruby, Mary .ED. Poetry for Students.Vol.5.Detroit: Gale, 1999.139-45.Gale Group.Web.February 5.2014.