8. I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died
* Discussions:
1.What sort of a feeling do you get when that fly shows up? Does it seem creepy, funny, annoying, or maybe something else entirely?
2.What if it hadn’t been a fly? How would the poem change if it had started with "I saw a butterfly flap" or "I heard a pig oink?" or "I heard a weasel…" OK, we don’t actually know what weasels do, but you get the idea.
3.Have you had any experience with death? Does this poem capture any of the weight of that experience? Based on this poem, do you feel like Dickinson had lived through this, or was just imagining it or working off something she’d read?
4.Do you like Dickinson’s dashes? Would you cut them out of the poem if you could, or do you think they add something?
5.This poem is very much about expectations. Have you ever expected a really big moment in your life to go one way and then had it take a weird and ridiculous turn? Was that kind of fun, or mostly just irritating?
* 번역:
나는 죽을 때 파리 한 마리가 붕붕대는 소리를 들었네.
방안의 고요는
폭풍과 다음 폭풍 사이의
공중의 고요 같았네.
주변의 눈들은 하도 울어서 말라 버렸고
숨소리는 마지막 공격을 위해
한데 모아지고 있었네.
왕이 방에 들어서니 볼지어다.
나는 유품들을 유언으로 남겼네.
내게서 나눠줄 수 있는 것이면 다
서명하여 넘겨주었네. 그때 거기에
파리 한 마리가 끼어들었네.
푸릇하고 불확실한 비틀대는 소리를 내며
빛과 나 사이에--
그러자 창들이 흐릿해졌고, 그런 다음엔
보려 해도 볼 수 없었다.
* heave: 들어올리기. wring: 짜다. keepsake: 유품. sign away: 서명하여 양도하다 interpose: 끼어들다