Epanalepsis (or epanodiplosis) in Emily Dickinson’s "I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -" (Fr591)

While preparing Emily Dickinson's "I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -" (Fr591) for discussion on Wednesday, I noticed the structure of the penultimate line: "And then the Windows failed - and then." It begins and ends with the same phrase. In the past, I've described such lines as "framed" by the repeated phrase. But recently, I've been discovering the many old rhetorical terms for types of repetition (with "epistrophe" being my favorite, because of Thelonious Monk's composition "Epistrophy"). So now I've been able to find "epanalepsis" or "epanadiplosis" for such repetition at the beginning and end of a sentence (or, in this case, of a line of poetry). (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 23 September 2024)

I heard a Fly buzz - when I died - (591)

Emily Dickinson

 

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 -