Some hand, that never meant to do thee hurt,
Has crush’d thee here between these pages pent,
But thou has left thine own fair monument,
Thy wings gleam out and tell me what thou wert:
Oh! That the memories, which survive us here,
Were half as lovely as these wings of thine!
Pure relics of a blameless life, that shine
Now thou art gone: Our doom is ever near:
The peril is beside us, day by day;
The book will close upon us it may be,
Just as we lift ourselves to soar away
Upon the summer-airs. But unlike thee,
The closing book may stop our vital breath,
Yet leave no lustre on our page of death.
Style
• The poem is a structured Shakespearean
sonnet, with 14 lines. Although the poem is
not visibly split into stanzas, there is an
idea change in line 8, as is to be expected
in sonnets.
• Rhythmically ordered into 3 quatrains and
a couplet.
• Although the poem’s language may be
considered archaic today, the meaning still
relevant.
• While the title conveys a reflective, albeit
lightweight and informal topic, there is little
of this style used in the body of the poem.
Analysis
• The poem opens with an almost remorseful
tone, conveyed by language such as ‘never
meant to do thee hurt’.
• The second line coontinues this mood, by referring to the hurtful act- ‘crush’d thee here
between these pages pent’. • Pent is the past tense form of pen- this refers to the fact the
pages are not blank, but instead filled with a history, but it can also stand for imprisoned. •
This opening is considerably strong- it introduces engaging points that seek to interest the
reader by introducing a unique and quirky predicament. • In the third line the poet then
discusses the ‘own fair monument’ - this represents the memory of the fly. • The line ‘Thy
wings gleam out and tell me what thou wert;’ shows how the fly left behind a message. •
Positive language is used, such as ‘fair’ and ‘gleam’ to show that while the poet feels
remorse, he still has respect for the character oof that which he destroyed.
With the fifth line, the focus changes from the concrete (eg. wings) to the abstract –
memories. • The poet expresses how it is a shame that the memory’s of the fly have in part
been lost. All the remains is ‘half as lovely’- conveying to us that the remaining memories are
only a tiny reminder of the fly’s life. • These two lines are also the only that use exclamation
marks. They are used to stress the relationship between what goes with that which dies, and
what is left behind, to live on. In this case memories are what remains, albeit in abstract form.
• The praise for the fly is continued, with the line ‘pure relics of a blameless life’ that suggests
it is almost an angelic being. This is reinforced by the use of the word ‘shine’ ’that conveys
purity. • Line eight marks the idea change typical in sonnets. In this case it is a shift to a more
morose and pessimistic tone, shown by words such as ‘doom’ , and ‘peril’. • ‘Now thou art
gone:’ suggests that the passing of the fly brought about the doom, perhaps the poet seeks to
form an allegory about the flies fate and humanity. Now that a less significant being is now
gone that our fate is near. • The proximity of our doom is suggested when it is described as
‘ever near’ and that our peril is ‘beside us day by day’ • In line ten, the poet continues the
comparison between humanity and the fly, in starting to describe the circumstances of our
doom. • There is a new metaphor used by the poeta book closing- the exact circumstance
under which the fly died. • Also the timing of our doom, described as when we soar away, is
also identical to that of the fly. • In those two and a half lines, through the use of ‘soar’ and
‘summer-airs’ to convey a positive feeling, that the time of our doom will come when
humanity is in its prime.
• In the final couplet the poet presents a difference. When humanity needs its doom, we will
leave no ‘lustre’- a reference back to the gleaming monument of the fly. • There is also a
continued reference to a book, with the ‘closing book’ and the our ‘page of death’, helping to
further strengthen the link between the fly’s fate and the that of humanity. Rhyme, Rhythm
and Structure • The poem has a rhyme scheme of ABBA CDDC EFEF GG. This differs
slightly from the usual Shakespearean scheme. • Iambic pentameter is adhered to on every
line of the poem, is scheme of five 2 syllable feet, each with the first syllable unstressed and
the second stressed. • The structure closely follows those of the Shakespearean poems, only
differing in that the predicament is introduced within the eighth line, not after it. • Overall
these slight departures from standard form give the poem a stream of consciousness, as if the
poet didn’t care that he didn’t use the proper form.
