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The Fly -- William Blake

Guest poem sent in by Sriram
(Poem #97) The Fly
Little Fly
Thy summers play,
My thoughtless hand
Has brush'd 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.
-- William Blake
The Fly touches me, like all great art, at several levels. The words are
simple yet so profound- le mot juste. The structure is perfect for the
subject, the tone and the meaning. The rhythm simple yet powerful, again
eminently suited to the tone, and the message. The "meaning" is so clear,
Blake succeeds so  well, seemingly effortlessly- a 5 year-old and a 50
year-old can both access it equally well:

   ...the pages blur,
                            the walls
                                          transparent.

Finally, it is a delight to read aloud, and silently- a joy of a poem.

Sriram

33 comments: ( or Leave a comment )

Nicholas Horsburgh said...

A great little poem! And here is another by Ogden Nash:

The Fly

God in his wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why.

Regards,
Nick
PS A great little site, too.

Jason Nyilas said...

I agree with Sriram. Like most of Blake's poems, the complex is simply put
which is a true mark of genius. As for being enjoyed by a fifty or five year
old, my five year old son, Justin, loves to read this poem again and again.
He laughs at its humour and simplicity as well as its rhythm. As for his
Dad, the poem changes meaning with each reading.

aizramelav said...

Thank you Sandi!
Your poem's interpretation will be very useful for my oral exam about the poem of William Blake!
bye
marzia

CMM0300 said...

Yes; Blake is making a profound observation about life - not just human
existance, but Life as Schopenhauer sees it.

The one 'thing in itself' that life is must be experienced by all who life.
Yet the 'objective' must surrender to the 'subjective' and then thought brings
us back again to the 'thing in itself' - in some strange quadrille: we
only can experience life through individual realities, which are only
interpreted by the self. But does that make us experience a 'different life' from an
unthinking fly? Or arew we participants in the one and the same life (as a
thing in itself)?

A Val-Hackett

Natalie Bell said...

Need help on the fly peom, have any other explications ?, I'm so confused please help ! Thank You get back to me soon.
thanks,
the student in need

Manoj Kitta said...

Real good poem,

As it is said the one who learns to live in the
present and could internalise the "powe of Now" is the
.. happy fly...

Manoj Kitta

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Anonymous said...

whats the meter of this poem?

Anonymous said...

An amazing version of this poem in song form by Esperanza Spalding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2JRGv91urY

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