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 & Syntax of Love
and on my calendar: A Rebirth of Wonder

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