Butterfly (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Leonie Sachs
- First Published: 1949
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Nature, Death or dying, Life and death, Animals, Insects, Butterflies
The Poem
“Butterfly,” written in free verse, consists of sixteen lines arranged in three groups of six, six, and four lines. At the core of the poem is a typical nature reverie, except that here the processes of observation and abstraction are reversed. In conventional nature poetry, observation of a concrete object inspires the poet to achieve a deeper insight, but in this poem the actual butterfly is embedded in interpretive associations. As the poet contemplates the butterfly, two different images are summoned. The first image, a visionary flight from the center of the...
[The entire page is 1399 words long]
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