The Fly
-William
Blake
In the poem The Fly, William Blake compares his life
and death to that of a fly that he accidentally kills. He encourages people to
enjoy each day like the fly because no one knows when God will take our
lives.
We cannot control our life or death, so worrying about
the future makes us sad and takes away our joy. Therefore, we should accept our
lives, embrace our fate, and live as fully as we can.
The poem consists of five small stanzas, each with
four lines. The rhyme scheme is ABCB, DEFE, and so on.
Stanza 1
In the first stanza, the poet, sitting outside in
summer, reflects on a little fly that his careless hand killed. He is unhappy
about this act. However, he becomes aware of his actions after killing the fly.
As a Romantic Poet, he feels connected to nature. For him, summer and the fly
hold meaning. Summer stands for hope, prosperity, and joy, while killing the
fly represents disaster, mistakes, and a stark contrast to those feelings.
Stanza 2
In the second stanza, the poet likens himself to the
fly. He asks the fly, now a symbol of death, a rhetorical question about their
similarities. In reality, this comparison may seem flawed. However, the poet
speaks in terms of their existence. Both are created by God, both live their
lives, and both must eventually die, even though the fly has already met its
end.
Stanza 3
The third stanza continues from the second. The poet
believes they are similar because he, too, dances, drinks, and sings like the
fly, until one day when someone, meaning God, will "brush his wing,"
or take away his life just as he did with the fly. Here, the poet highlights
two key points about life: first, both the fly and he (or humanity in general)
enjoy their lives, dancing, singing, and drinking. Second, both are destined
for death, which is unavoidable. The fly was flitting around until, suddenly, the
poet killed it. In the same way, he will face his fate one day.
Stanzas 4 & 5
The poet notes that it is thought that makes him, or
people in general, different from the fly. This thought has both positive and
negative aspects: it makes humans wiser than flies, but it also causes fear of
death. The poet states that for humans, thought constitutes our life, strength,
and breath, including the thought of death. If a person stops thinking, they
can be as happy as a fly, regardless of whether they live or die.
These lines carry significant meaning and reflect the
poem's message. The poet believes that our overthinking—essentially an analysis
that leads to paralysis—causes us to suffer, fear, and evade death. This
mindset obstructs our happiness. If a person stops worrying about death and
starts enjoying the present, they can find happiness similar to that of a fly,
which does not worry about death. Thus, the poem ends with a universal message:
live life without fixating on the future.
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