"The Fly"
Little Fly,
Thy summer's play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away.
Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?
For I dance
And drink, and sing,
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.
If thought is life And strength and breath And the want Of thought is death;
Then am I A happy fly, If I live, Or if I die.
Shawn's Analysis: I thought the use a fly as a personification for mankind was a very nit-witted choice. For a fly does not play, it does not dance, and sing, It only annoys, spreads disease, breeds, and craps on my food. There is no intelligence in a fly, no creativity; a fly does not think of death, for it it did, it would not come by me. I also contend to the phrase "If thought is life, And strength and breath, And the want of thought is death;" To me, strength and breath represent life, and though can only be achieved by life and not death. This poem, however, demonstrates a variety poetry elements. It uses alliteration in comparing the personification between himself and a fly "Am not I a fly like thee? Or art not thou A man like me?" Imagery is used to capture a picture of the similarities of man and fly. "For I dance, and drink, and sing." All- in- all,this poem is very different from the other poems I have read. Other poems I have read share a deep religious or symbolic point of view, very different from this poem. Maybe what William is saying is that everything living, even insects, are a creation of God.
Love's Secret
Never seek to tell thy love, love that never told can be.
Silently, invisibly, he took her with a sigh.
Allie's Analysis:
I didn't enjoy this poem very much because I do not agree with the message it relates: warning people to never profess their love when in a relationship. This idea is expressed within the poem when it states, "Never seek to tell thy love, love that never told can be" which implies that anyone who does profess love for another person will be ruining the relationship between them. I do understand that often times people are rejected when they profess their love to someone who may not love them back in that their hearts get broken, as is evident in the experience of the speaker throughout the later stanzas of the poem. However, if the two people involved are already in a strong relationship, I believe there isn't anything wrong with pouring your heart out to that special someone. In the experience of the speaker, he professed his love and her reaction was negative as she "trembled, cold, in ghastly fears." His love then departed and was taken from him by a traveler, or another man, which he still laments within the poem. So, in speaker's experience, professing love drives the ones you love away, and you are left with emptiness. It is this message I disagree with and so therefore I am not too fond of the poem.
| ||