The Fly

This section focuses on a Song of Experience called The Fly, which draws the meaning of life and its antithetical parallel, death, together through the speaker comparing themselves to the symbolism of, you guessed it, a fly. Luckily, unlike the previous poems, it is short in terms of content to explore.

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 & sing:

Till some blind hand

Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life

And strength & breath:

And the want

Of thought is death;

Then am I

A happy fly,

If I live,

Or if I die.

Form and Structure

The poem consists of five quatrains that follow a playful ABCB rhyme scheme accompanied by iambic dimeter typical of nursery rhymes, further contributing the playful tone of the poem. Despite the serious, philosophical content of the poem, it sounds straightforward, especially with its simple diction as well. The change in rhyme of the final stanza to AABB, AKA rhyming couplets, concretises the comparison of “I” and “fly” together.

Stanza One

The symbol of the “Fly” is how short and ephemeral life is, because they have a short lifespan and are easy to kill. Blake may be alluding to the bleak assessment of the human condition made by the Duke of Gloucester in King Lear:

“As flies to wanton boys are we to Gods;

They kill us for their sport.”

“Thy summers play” indicates possession through “thy”, thereby making the speaker a possessive determiner, exuding power and symbolising mankind’s authority and dominion over the natural world. Reference to “summer” highlights that summer, and life, are fleeting.

The speaker’s hand is “thoughtless” as a higher power is “thoughtless” to mankind, AKA Urizen, and that acting in such a way can lead to death.

Stanza Two

This stanza introduces the notion of the speaker comparing himself to a fly, and consists of two rhetorical questions of deep and spontaneous contemplation. These rhetorical questions assume that the reader will automatically agree with the speaker, as opposed to really consider the issues. Not much else to say really.

Stanza Three

The “drink & sing” shows the foolishness of revelry and vices of mankind.

The “blind hand” points to a greater hand, which could be God and his involvement with mankind, namely death. It also refers to the passage of the Bible Isaiah 2:3:

“Tomorrow you may die.”

This says we must make the most of life as opposed to indulging in senseless pursuits.

Stanza Four

The notion that “thought is life” suggests that when a man’s thoughts cease, he is no more. This links to the comparison between the speaker and the fly, in that it clearly depicts the differences between the two. If the speaker cannot reason, they would be as ordinary as a fly.

The “want of thought is death” shows that in order to seek liberation, the speaker must let go of their thoughts and imagination.

Stanza Five

The poem ends ambiguously as to whether the speaker will be happy when they die.  They take joy in existing with little care about what tomorrow will bring, hence the ambiguous ending. They believe they are like a fly, being of insignificance to fate or this blind force, while a fly is insignificant to the natural world.

And that’s the fly. I don’t think there’re many contexts in which you could use this poem as a comparison to ‘Tis Pity, therefore I wouldn’t concern myself too much in memorising it. However, the notion of living life to the full is evoked in both works which you could potentially bring in, but don’t dwell too much on it in your exam!