The Worthy Butterfly

SELF-POISED LITTLE BUTTERFLY
~ ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS ~

Previously featured: September Butterfly Away
and on my calendar: A Rebirth of Wonder

William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850) confesses in his "Preface to the Second Edition of Lyrical Ballads,"I may have sometimes written upon unworthy subjects, but as he states earlier, never without a "worthy purpose." It is because of this worthy purpose in each poem that Wordsworth can claim, "that the feeling therein developed gives importance to the action and situation, and not the action and situation to the feeling."

In the poem "To a Butterfly," Wordsworth is once again "in that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts bring sad thoughts to the mind." His situation: sitting in the orchard. His action: watching a butterfly for a full half-hour. The feeling developed:

To A Butterfly

I’ve watched you now a full half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow flower;
And, little Butterfly! Indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! – not frozen seas
More motionless! And then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister’s flowers.
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We'll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days when we were young;
Sweet childish days that were as long
As twenty days are now."
Is a butterfly an unworthy subject upon which to write? 20th & 21st Century readers are more accepting of Wordsworth's chosen topics than perhaps were his peers and critics in 1800. Following Nabokov's example, we've long been allowed to write about butterfly collections, luna moths, and dreams of butterflies. A butterfly might seem trivial to those expecting every poem to focus on death and justice, good and evil, archangels and continents. However, "To a Butterfly" does indeed have a worthy purpose, despite the apparent simplicity of a little butterfly. Wordsworth's purpose in this poem is to mention, if fleetingly, the relativity of time.

In "To a Butterfly," the subject, action, and situation may be "unworthy"; but the purpose and the feeling developed are "worthy." Wordsworth reminds us that the ever - changing butterfly is a time-honored symbol of metamorphosis. He reverses the association: this butterfly makes those long ago hours seem timeless. The feelings concerning the relativity of time which are developed in the poem give importance to the action of sitting and watching a butterfly: "How motionless! . . . More motionless! And then what joy awaits . . . ."

Previously featured: Not Always what They Seem
and on my calendar: A Rebirth of Wonder

Next Fortnightly Post
Monday, April 14th
Between now and then, read

THE QUOTIDIAN KIT
my shorter, almost daily blog posts
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com

Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogsppot.com

Laughing at Death

VANITY FAIR
~ ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS ~

"All is vanity, nothing is fair."

Beautiful movie & music, this song especially:

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

lyrics by
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788 – 1824)
sung by Sissel (b 1969)

In the novel Vanity Fair (1848), the author William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 63) makes death a topic at which his readers can laugh. He also shows his characters laughing in the face of death. One example of this juxtaposition of death and laughter is the light and joking manner in which the -th regiment views the impending battle. The prevailing attitude is well illustrated by Dobbin's reply to George, who is imagining himself, "among the killed and wounded returns, and at the top of the list."

"Psha! It will be time enough to cry out when we are hurt" (290).

George, characteristically, is easily convinced, and the two, who are presently vacationing at Brighton, join their party for "an exceedingly brisk and merry" dinner. The conversation is jolly and filled with the excitement of the coming campaign. Dobbin amuses his friends with accounts of the army in Belgium, "where nothing but fetes and gaiety and fashion were going on." The lively dinner progresses, but when Amelia and Becky declare their intentions of going along with the regiment to Brussels, Dobbin is more inclined to worry than he was earlier.

"She can't go," he said; "think of the -- of the danger," he was going to add; but had not all his conversation during dinner-time tended to prove there was none? He became very confused and silent. (p. 295)

Along with George and Dobbin, Rawdon also views the campaign as a lark rather than as a life-or-death matter. His attitude is displayed when Becky is dictating to him the letter intended for Miss Crawley.

"Before quitting the country and commencing a campaign which very possibly may be fatal --"

"What?" said Rawdon, rather surprised, but took the humour of the phrase, and presently wrote it down with a grin. (p. 302)

Business taken care of, the intimate little party leaves Brighton, but the holiday does not come to an end. Indeed, when the regiment reaches Brussels the spirit of gaiety, if anything, grows stronger:

The place was full of English soldiery as they passed. English bugles woke them in the morning; at nightfall they went to bed to the note of the British fife and drum: all the country and Europe was in arms, and the greatest event of history pending: and honest Peggy O'Dowd, whom it concerned as well as another, went on prattling about Ballinafad, and the horses in the stables at Glenmalony, and the clar't drunk there; and Jos Sedley interposed about curry and rice at Dumdum; and Amelia thought about her husband, and how best she should show her love for him; as if these were the great topics of the world. (p. 328; Chapter 28)

Undoubtedly, the majority of the -th regiment shared the sentiments of Amelia, who "was not much alarmed." But Thackeray takes care to warn his readers, if not his characters, that although "all looked as brilliant and harmless as a Hyde Park review . . . Napoleon was preparing to lay so many of them low" (p. 325). Thackeray is able to see the comic side of death, but he also takes it seriously. What is required to impress upon the -th regiment the import of their mission and the inappropriateness of their behavior? While laughing in the face of death may have its place, along with black garb and dirges, the campaign is not, as Rawdon thinks on departure, "as gay as a hunting party."

Le Déjeuner De Chasse ~ The Hunting Lunch

Also of interest:
Picnic After the Hunt
&
Hunter, Hero, and Friend
The British Soldier's Dog in the Napoleonic Wars
Next Fortnightly Post
Friday, March 28th
Between now and then, read

THE QUOTIDIAN KIT
my shorter, almost daily blog posts ~ Taking Death Seriously
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com

Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogsppot.com