I Heard a Fly Buzz -- NEHS Quizizz

Who is the author of I heard a Fly Buzz—when I died?

• Elizabeth Bishop

• Emily Dickinson

• Upton Sinclair

• Rachel Carson

What rhetorical device is best demonstrated in the following excerpt of the poem?

"The Stillness in the Room

Was like the Stillness in the Air –"

• Simile

• Metaphor

• Asyndeton

• Periphrasis

What best describes the narrator of I heard a Fly buzz—when I died?

• A fly buzzing around and recalling an individual on their deathbed

• A mourner who is recalling the surrounding atmosphere of their loved one's recent death

• Someone weirdly looking in through the window, seeing someone on their deathbed

• Someone already dead who is recalling the moments leading up to their death

What does the fly represent in the poem?

• Happiness and joy

• The inconvenience of insects

• The presence and spontaniety of death

• The mourners' emotions

How did the narrator prepare for death in I heard a Fly buzz—?

• Willing away her possessions

• Catching a fly

• Writing to everyone she loved

• Asking the King to help overcome her illness

What is ironic about the buzzing of the fly in "I heard a Fly buzz—?

• Unlike the speaker, the fly is aware of death

• God was expected in the room at the time of the speaker's death, but a fly interrupted instead

• The buzzing of the fly makes the speaker cling harder to life

• The speaker describes the beauty of the fly

The word "buzz" in line 1 (shown below) is an example of what device?

"I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –"

• rhyme

• hyperbole

• personification

• onomatopoeia

What does the "King" refer to in the poem?

"And Breaths were gathering firm

For that last Onset – when the King

Be witnessed – in the Room –"

• An important religious figure (i.e God)

• A banana

• The fly

• A monarch visiting the individual on their deathbed

TRUE OR FALSE:

I heard a Fly buzz—when I died is a poem exploring the spontaneity and triviality of life through the introduction of an annoying fly that interrupts a scene expected to be calm.

• True

• False

Consider the following excerpt. What does the narrator mean about not being able "to see to see"?

"And then the Windows failed – and then

I could not see to see –"

• She is implying that it got dark out

• She is implying that she went blind

• She is implying that she died

• She is implying that someone closed the curtains to the window