In "The Fly" by Walter de la Mare, the speaker tries to look at the world from the perspective of a fly, which is a tiny creature compared to a human.
The speaker notes that to a fly, a rose must seem as a feather bed would to us and a dew-drop like a mirror ("looking-glass"). He then continues to make other comparisons. Finally, at the beginning of stanza three, he imagines that to a fly, a loaf of bread must appear like a "lofty hill." That is because a loaf of bread is so much bigger than a fly. We can envision a fly landing on a kitchen table and peering up at the bread, seeing it rising seemingly endlessly into the sky.
The poem plays with point of view, urging the reader to think about how the world appears to creatures who are not us. The more we can look at life through others' eyes, the more we build empathy.
Monday, August 1, 2016
Why does a loaf of bread seem like a hill to the fly in "The Fly"?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is the theme of the chapter Lead?
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
The statement "Development policy needs to be about poor people, not just poor countries," carries a lot of baggage. Let's dis...
-
James is very unhappy on a number of occasions throughout the story, but he's especially unhappy with his life situation as the story be...
-
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
Bacteria are single-celled microorganisms that thrive in diverse environments (such as the ocean, the soil, and the human body). Various bac...
-
Note that these events are not in chronological order. The story is told by the narrator, looking back upon her life. The first notable even...
-
One of the plot lines in Pride and Prejudice is Mrs. Bennet’s plan to marry off her daughters, preferably to rich men. Throughout the novel...
-
As if Hamlet were not obsessed enough with death, his uncovering of the skull of Yorick, the court jester from his youth, really sets him of...
No comments:
Post a Comment