I heard a Fly buzz--when I died--
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air--
Between the Heaves of Storm--The Eyes around--had wrung them dry--
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset--when the King
Be witnessed--in the Room--I willed my Keepsakes--Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable--and then it was
There interposed a Fly--With Blue--uncertain stumbling Buzz--
Between the light--and me--
And then the Windows failed--and then
I could not see to see--
Assignable
5. Break the word up into
its individual morphemes.
As
+ sign + able
*Since
as-
is an unusual morpheme, actually coming from the Latin morpheme
ad-
and changing form, I also accepted the following:
Assign
+ able
6. Label each morpheme as
base, inflectional affix, or derivational affix.
As-:
derivational affix
sign:
base
-able:
derivational affix
*I
also accepted the following:
Assign:
base
-able:
derivational affix
7. In your own words, explain
how this word entered the English language.
According
to The American Heritage College Dictionary, the word assign
can be traced back to the Middle English word assignen, which was
borrowed from Old French, in which it appeared as assigner.
*You
also might have mentioned that assigner itself is derived from the
Latin word assignare. Because my dictionary--as well as, I
suspect, other standard dictionaries--does not include an etymology for
assignable,
I would not expect you to trace the history of it separately from assign.
8. Using two inflectional
affixes found in this poem, explain the concept of allomorphs.
Allomorphs
are morphemes that carry the same meaning or serve the same function, but
take different forms because of their phonetic environments. The
inflectional affix represented by the letter s in the word Eyes
is
equal to the inflectional affix represented by the same letter at the end
of Breaths. That is, each turns a singular noun into a plural
noun. Because of their phonetic environments, however, these morphemes
sound different. At the end of Eyes, where the affix is preceded
by a vowel, the affix is a voiced consonant. Specifically, it is
a voiced alveolor fricative. At the end of Breaths, where
the affix is preceded by a voiceless consonant sound, the affix is itself
a voiceless consonant sound. Specifically, it is a voiceless alveolar
fricative. Thus, the voiced alveolar fricative and voiceless alveolar
fricative, when affixed to nouns to indicate plurality, are allomorphs.
9. Choose a word in the
poem and substitute a synonym for it. Using this synonym, rewrite
the sentence here.
"I
willed my Keepsakes--Signed away
What
part of me be
Assignable--and
then it was
There
interposed a Fly--"
10. Explain how the denotation,
connotations, and diction of this synonym are appropriate or inappropriate
in this context.
I
chose to replace portion with the synonym part. According
to the The American Heritage College Dictionary, the former word
has a number of denotations, including "1. A section or quantity
within a larger thing; a part of a whole." The latter word, according
to the same dictionary, also has several denotations, including "1.
A portion, division, piece, or segment of a whole." As we can see
in these denotations, these two words are very close synonyms. Indeed,
the lexicographers have used part to define portion and have
used portion to define part. Furthermore, as far as
I know, neither word has any strong connotations that would absolutely
rule out substituting one for the other. In a loose sense, then,
one might argue that part is appropriate in this context.
I would argue, however, that its effect on the passage is a little different
from the effect of portion. My reasons have to do with some
of the additional denotations of portion, as well as the diction
of each word. According to The American Heritage College Dictionary,
in addition to meaning simply "a part of a whole," portion can carry
the following meanings: "3. A part alloted to a person or group,
as: a. A helping of food. b. The part of an estate received
by an heir. c. A woman's dowry." Each of these denotations
has some meaning for this context. Since flies feed on carcasses,
the word "portion" here suggests that the speaker's body is about to become
food for flies. Furthermore, the word is an appropriate piece of
legal jargon, since the sentence in which it appears describes the process
of distributing possessions of one about to die to those who succeed her.
Finally, the meaning of "dowry" suggests that the speaker is about to enter
a marriage, perhaps one with a divine figure. The diction of portion
also makes it the better word here. Unlike part, a very common
word used frequently by everyone from an illiterate child to literary masters,
portion
has a somewhat formal air. Both words actually can be traced back
to Latin, but the monosyllabic part has the same feel as many Germanic
words, such as good and man, and thus seems more elemental.
The word portion, on the other hand, is not only polysyllabic and
thus feels more formal, but contains the derivational affix -ion.
Because this suffix comes from Latin, the language of the learned and a
source for many formal and scientific words in English, the word feels
more formal than part. Thus, the formal-sounding
portion
seems at home in the context of a legal discussion, especially one in which
other formal words--Assignable and interposed--appear.
*You
could have used different synonyms to write a correct response here.
11. Using a word from this
passage, explain why English spelling is or is not phonetic.
An
analysis of the spelling of the word light, along with references
to other words in the poem, nicely demonstrates that English spelling is
not totally phonetic. If English spelling were phonetic, we would
expect each letter to represent only one sound and each sound to be represented
by only one letter. The letter i, however, represents a diphthong
in the word light, whereas it represents a single front vowel in
the word Stillness. Furthermore, the letter g has no
phonetic value at all in this word, even though it represents a voiced
velar stop at the beginning of the word gathering.
*You
could have used different words to write a correct response here.
12. Find two words that
rhyme and write them here.
me
see
*You
could have correctly responded with different words.
13. Using what you have
learned about phonology, write a definition of rhyme.
The
word rhyme means "to end with the same sound." Specifically,
two words rhyme if they both end with either a) identical vowel sounds,
as in me and see, or b) identical vowel and consonant sounds,
as in when and then.
14. Find an example
of a structure word in this poem and write it here.
in
*You
could have correctly responded with a different structure word.
15. Explain how you
know this word belongs to a structure class.
The
word in is a preposition, a kind of word that belongs to the structure
class. Furthermore, it carries little or no lexical meaning; rather,
it serves to indicate the relationship between other words in a sentence.
Its function, then, is not to convey information by itself, but to help
establish the structure of the sentence so that the sentence itself can
convey information.
An understanding of English linguistics can deepen one's understanding and appreciation of poetry, especially the poetry of a master writer such as Emily Dickinson. In this poem, principles of English phonology, along with morphological and lexical features, combine to complement the meaning conveyed by the sentences alone.
Perhaps the most striking linguistic aspect of this poem is its sound. Two particular features stand out. First, a number of words in the poem help to suggest the sound of a fly buzzing through an otherwise quiet room. The most obvious of these words is the onomatopoeic buzz, which occurs in the first and last stanzas. Part of what makes this word suggest the actual sound of a fly's wings is the voiced alveolar fricative at the end. In fact, this same voiced alveolar fricative occurs at several other points in the poem, in words such as Heaves, Eyes, interposed, and Windows. What is even more striking is the way these voiced sounds alternate with voiceless alveolar fricatives in words such as Stillness, witnessed, Keepsakes, signed, Assignable, and see. The effect is one of quiet broken by the buzzing of a fly and can be seen particularly in the third stanza:
I willed
my Keepsakes--Signed away
What
portion of me be
Assignable--and
then it was
There
interposed a Fly--
Here, the alveolar fricatives are all voiceless until the end of the third line, where there appears a voiced alveolar fricative at the end of the word was. In the next line, another voiced alveolar fricative appears in the middle of the word interposed. Thus, the buzzing begins at precisely the moment in the poem when the fly interposes. A second noteworthy feature of the poem's sound concerns the lack of rhyme. The division of the poem into quatrains and the similarity of the sounds at the ends of the second and fourth lines in each quatrain help to set up an expectation of end rhyme--that is, the occurrence of identical vowel sounds or vowel and consonant sounds at the ends of lines. In the first three stanzas, however, this expectation is continually thwarted. Rather than feeling the satisfaction of exact rhyme, the reader must cope with the somewhat unsettling feeling of slant rhyme. In the third stanza, for example, we have be, which ends in a monophthong, and Fly, which ends in a diphthong. Only in the fourth stanza do we have an exact rhyme. In addition to creating a general feeling of uneasiness, this slant rhyme helps to set up a climactic moment in the final stanza. Here, for the first time, the second and fourth lines end in exact rhyme, suggesting a final consummation, perhaps between an unsuspecting persona just passing into death and a divine figure present there.
In both morphology and lexical content, the words themselves also convey a great deal of meaning outside--or, we might say, beneath--the superficial meanings of the sentences themselves. The occurrence of the word Stillness twice in two lines, 2 and 3, is a case in point. As one of the most common derivational affixes used to create nouns, which by their very nature refer to things rather than activity, -ness draws attention to the inertia in the room, helping to create a sense of calm. It is worth noting, too, that the poem contains relatively few affixes: Fly, buzz, Room, Storm, King, light, and other words are all single morphemes. The language, then, is in this respect rather simple, even sparse, perhaps suggesting the simplicity of the speaker's life or helping to focus attention to the odd buzz of the fly. Even more striking is one aspect of the poem's lexicon. According to The American Heritage College Dictionary, the word portion, which appears in the third stanza, has a broad denotation of "a part of a whole." This denotation is appropriate here and suggests that the speaker is distributing some aspect of herself. More provocative than this broad denotation are some more specific denotations. According to The American Heritage College Dictionary, portion can carry the following meanings: "3. A part alloted to a person or group, as: a. A helping of food. b. The part of an estate received by an heir. c. A woman's dowry." Each of these denotations has some meaning for this context. Since flies feed on carcasses, the word "portion" here suggests that the speaker's body is about to become food for flies. Furthermore, the word is an appropriate piece of legal jargon, since the sentence in which it appears describes the process of distributing possessions of one about to die to those who succeed her. Finally, the meaning of "dowry" suggests that the speaker is about to enter a marriage, perhaps one with a divine figure. The stark contrasts among these various denotations makes for a striking line of poetry. One might even argue that the entire poem hinges on this single word. Here we are made aware of the simple, elemental, transient nature of humanity as we are reminded that a dead body is food for flies. We also see, however, humans' attempts to rise above this nature and become civilized, in this case conceiving of agreements to regulate the distribution of property. Finally, the word portion hints at the spiritual potential of humans, for it suggests that the speaker here is entering a relationship with the divine.
In its sounds, morphology, and lexicon, then, this poem demonstrates the possiblities for meaning and effect inherent in the English language, especially when it is in the hands--and mind and mouth--of a brilliant poet.