Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Interposed


In my opinion, the word in Dickinson's poem 465 that has the most significance, and underlying role is "interposed" located in line 12; here, it is used to describe the instance in which a buzzing fly interjected itself between the speaker and the so-called "light".  But, I think it has more importance than just describing what the narrator sees right before death, it is used as a tool to illustrate separation, a theme that I found prevalent throughout the poem. 
The images that usually come to my mind when I envision a death scene involve family, friends, comfort and warmth; but, while reading Dickinson's piece, I felt a great deal of loneliness and detachment.  For example, when she describes: "The eyes around -- had wrung them dry -- / And Breaths were gathering firm" it does seem like the the people gathered mean anything to her, and they do not seem to be standing or sitting close to the speaker as people usually do to provide comfort to a dying person.  Instead, everyone mentioned in the poem seems to be congregating around the speaker, watching her.
A similar picture can be drawn for her keepsakes, which she mentions will always carry some part of her, but then are willed from her when they are assigned to others; but, I think the most formidable example of separation, and one of the biggest events of the poem in terms of significance and meaning occurs with her description of the fly interposing itself between the speaker and the light.  Although no direct reference to God is made, I got the sense that Dickinson injected this poem with certain subtleties of religion with her mention of the "King" and "the light" to show how people are generally drawn to the divine when their lives are nearing the end. Therefore, the fly getting between her, and this notion of the "the light" presents a bigger question of Dickinson's trouble or conflict with religion (or the idea of God).
People who have undergone near death experience all recollect being comforted by a beautiful, comforting, radiant light that makes them feel at peace with the notion of their physical death on earth; but, unfortunately for the speaker in Dickinson's prose, something interfered the transition into that religious realm, and not by accident. 




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