One Word

        A fly is an insect that is not very interesting in normal circumstances, but in regards to poem 465 it is the most intense word. The whole poem is hinting at the in between that Dickinson feels, she is neither alive nor dead; she is stuck between two worlds and the fly is the only thing that is holding her to the living world. This word itself has two different meanings it can mean to soar in the air to feel free, and it can also be a bug. This is a parallel to the in between, one is sweet gentle and whimsical like heaven and the other is gross and diseased like the morbidity of death. The "fly"is a morbid symbol of death, when we think of something dead there is usually the idea of a fly buzzing around the corpse. That is why it is so interesting that she chooses this symbol one that can live and exists in the world of living; yet the fly represents the world of the dead and dying. The fly is in between the light and Dickinson separating her from passing on to the soft, peaceful world of death; however, it still represents the dark morbidity because once she is gone the fly will land on her. She sees the world like the reader sees the fly full of darkness, where dying is the light.