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To a Butterfly. William Wordsworth. I've watched you now a full half-hour; Self-poised upon that yellow flower And, little Butterfly! indeed I know not if you sleep or feed. How motionless!--not frozen seas More motionless! and then What joy awaits you, when the breeze Hath found you out among the trees, And calls you forth again!T...
Clearly, then, the butterfly is an inherently poetic creature. And sure enough, many poets, from the Romantics onwards, have written great poems about butterflies. But what are the very best butterfly poems? Let’s flutter off and take a look … 1. Matsuo Bashō, ‘A Caterpillar’.
The most obvious meaning is the surface one, the speaker communicating with a butterfly he sees in his sister's garden. From this, Wordsworth concocts several meanings that are based on the...
The poem begins with the poet directly addressing the butterfly and admiring its beautiful colors. Paradoxically, its colorfulness is tied to the image of dust and the concept of “aftermath.”
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‘To a Butterfly’ by William Wordsworthis a poetic address to a butterfly. Here the poet requests it to wait a while as it reminds him of some sweet memories. Wordsworth addresses a butterfly at the beginning of the poem. He has much to talk about with the butterfly as it reminds him of his past. Moreover, it brings a “solemn image” of the family of...
This poem, containing an address to a butterfly, consists of two stanzas. In each stanza, there are a total of nine rhyming lines. Moreover, the rhyme scheme of the poem is conventional. The rhyme scheme of the first stanza is AABBCBCCB. Moreover, the second stanza also follows a similar rhyming pattern. Apart from that, the overall poem is compose...
The poem begins with a direct address to a butterfly. This device using which a poet invokes the spirit of a creature or person is known as an apostrophe. Moreover, Wordsworth uses several alliterations in this poem. For example the, phrases such as “take thy’ and ‘little longer” contain alliteration. Thereafter, the poet uses a metaphor in “Histor...
Stanza One
The first stanza of the poem, ‘To a Butterfly’ begins with a request from the poetic persona to the butterfly. Here, the speaker urges the butterfly to stay near him and not to take flight. Thereafter, using a rhetorical exclamation, the speaker requests it to stay a little longer in his sight. As he has much to talk about, he requests it to stay. Whatsoever, here the poet metaphoricallyrefers to the butterfly as the “Historical of my infancy.” The poet thinks this butterfly has recorded his...
Stanza Two
The butterfly mentioned in the previous stanza has successfully evoked the old memories in his mental space. In this section, the speaker describes those “pleasant” days when he was together with his family. However, as a child, he used to chase the butterflies along with his sister, Emmeline (Wordsworth probably called his sister, Dorothy by this adorable name). In the following lines of this stanza, the poet compares his childish self to that of a hunter. Like a very hunter, he used to rush...
Wordsworth wrote this lyric poem, ‘To a Butterfly’ at Town End, Grasmere, in 1802. The poem was published in his book of poetry, “Poems, in Two Volumes” (1807), and placed in the section entitled “Moodsof my Mind”. There are two poems of the same title in that book. However, this analysis concerns the first and most popular one. In this poem, Words...
Here is a list of a few poems that showcase similar kinds of themes present in William Wordsworth’s lyric, ‘To a Butterfly’. 1. The Butterflyby Pavel Friedmann– This beautiful yet haunting poem presents an image of a butterfly to symbolizethe loss of freedom. 2. Blue-Butterfly Dayby Robert Frost– It’s one of the best Robert Frost poemsand here the ...
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From Wordsworth's introspective musings to Dickinson's whimsical observations and Frost's contemplations on beauty, these famous poems offer a glimpse into the captivating world of butterflies. They remind us to appreciate life's fleeting moments, celebrate nature's delicate wonders, and find inspiration in the transformative power of these ...
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"To a Butterfly" is a lyric poem written by William Wordsworth at Town End, Grasmere, in 1802. It was first published in the collection Poems, in Two Volumes in 1807. Wordsworth wrote two poems addressing a butterfly, of which this is the first and best known.
