"The Fly" by William Blake: Analysis

“THE FLY”
By William Blake
Introduction:
"The Fly" is a poem written by the English poet William Blake. It was
published as part of his collection Songs of Experience in 1794.
Analysis:
Rhyme scheme:
The poem has been divided into 5 small stanzas having four lines each.
The rhyme scheme of first four stanzas is ABCB and of the final stanza
is AABB.
Tone:
The tone in the Blake’s poem is thoughtful. Throughout the poem,

Blake asks us as the reader to think deeply and profoundly about what
life really means. The other tone is a gloomy tone since in this poem,
the fly is described as having an insignificant life. The poem is also
somewhat gloomy since it asks us to think about life and death. The
poem tells us that life can be wiped away at anytime.
Setting:
The setting of the poem is not clearly shown. However, we still can
analyze it through the general setting of the poem. The most obvious
setting is the setting of time. According to the line "Thy summer’s play",
it can be concluded that it happens in a summer daytime.
Narrator’s point of view:

The poem employs first person point of view signified with the use of
“I”. The speaker becomes the one who kills the fly, thinks about the
fly’s life and death and eventually considers his life as insignificant as
the fly’s life. However, in the third stanza, the "I" enters the fly’s mind.
He fuses with the fly, the speaker is no longer "I". In the third stanza, "I"
refers to the fly.
Literary Devices:
1. Simile:
There are two lines employing similes, both are located in the second
stanza. In the lines “Am not I a fly like thee?” and “A man like me?”,
the speaker is compared to the fly because he thinks that his life is used
ineffectively; he feels sympathy for himself. When he kills the fly, he
realises that his life can be gone anytime.
2. imagery:
The first stanza is very much employing visual imagery. It is concluded
that the speaker actually watches the fly which plays gaily in the
summer day.
Auditory imagery is also found in the line 10, “And drink and sing”. The
use of “sing” triggers the reader's sense of hearing, making them feel
more immersed in the poem.
3. Metaphor:
In the lines “Then Am I a happy fly”, the speaker is once again
compared to a fly. The other metaphor is found in line 13–16; “If
thought is life And strength & breath”
Blake compares thought to life; it means that in life one must think.
Thought is a gift from God to humans, using thought means living. By
thinking, humans can live and they can have the strength to live.
On the other hand, “want of thought” is compared to death. The
metaphor suggests that humans need to maximize the use of thought.
4. Personification:
Blake uses personification in the line, “My thoughtless hand/Till some

blind hand”. Here, the hand is identified as thoughtless whereas in
reality hands have no thought. The hand is identified as blind, however,
it has no eye. Only humans have thoughts and eyes, hence, these lines
that treat dead things as human are included in the personification.
Summary:
In the poem The Fly, William Blake compares his life and death to that
of a fly which he happens to kill unintentionally and finally advises the
man to enjoy every day like the fly because no one knows when God
will take away our life.
We don’t have any control over our life or death, so thinking about the
future and fearing from it is something which makes us sad and joyless.
Hence we should accept our life, submit to our fate and live as much as
we can.
Themes:
1.The nature of death:

This theme that is embedded in the poem brings the reader to also
think about death. As the fly that dies suddenly reminding the reader
that life is short and can be taken from us at any moment.
2. The nature of life:
This theme is the central theme of the poem because throughout the
poem, this theme becomes the breath of each stanza. The poet wants
us to have a contemplation to reconsider what life actually means to us.
3. The balance of life and death:
The balance is needed to create a happy life both in the mortal and
immortal world. This theme is as satire to human life since humans no
longer clings into religion values as they did in the past. Even at the
time Blake wrote the poem, religious values were staring to be
abandoned by humans. This is what Blake wants to challenge. By using
this theme, Blake wants to educate people because one function of
poetry is to educate.
4. Respect to every living creature:
The fly is an insignificant creature in a human’s life. However, the fly
can be an object of contemplation. The point that Blake wants to make
in this poem is that all living creature are significant no matter how little
they are.
References:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fly_(poem)
https://www.gradesaver.com/songs-of-innocence-and-of-
experience/study-guide/summary-the-fly
http://retailmfa.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-fly-by-william-blake-
from.html?m=1
THE END

"The Fly" by William Blake: Analysis

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"The Fly" by William Blake: Analysis

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“THE FLY”

The tone in the Blake’s poem is thoughtful. Throughout the poem,

Narrator’s point of view:

Blake uses personification in the line, “My thoughtless hand/Till some

1.The nature of death:

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