The Fly
Little Fly,Thy summer's playMy thoughtless handHas brushed away.
Am not IA fly like thee?Or art not thouA man like me?
For I danceAnd drink, and sing,Till some blind handShall brush my wing.
If thought is lifeAnd strength and breathAnd the wantOf thought is death;
Then am IA happy fly,If I live,Or if I die.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Fly is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of William Blake, Project Gutenberg ebook #574; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Blake, The Fly, in Poems of William Blake (1783–1794), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #574, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/blake-poems/the-fly.html, id L02009.
Form and metre
The Fly is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 3.7 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A fly · playA · hand · awayA
- 2 AA-A iA · theeA · thou · meA
- 3 -A-A dance · singA · hand · wingA
- 4 -A-A life · breathA · want · deathA
- 5 AA-A iA · flyA · live · dieA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Little Fly, | 3 | /˘· |
| Thy summer's play | 4 | ·/˘· |
| My thoughtless hand | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Has brushed away. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Am not I | 3 | ··· |
| A fly like thee? | 4 | ···· |
| Or art not thou | 4 | ···· |
| A man like me? | 4 | ···· |
| For I dance | 3 | ··· |
| And drink, and sing, | 4 | ···· |
| Till some blind hand | 4 | ···· |
| Shall brush my wing. | 4 | ···· |
| If thought is life | 4 | ···· |
| And strength and breath | 4 | ···· |
| And the want | 3 | ··· |
| Of thought is death; | 4 | ···· |
| Then am I | 3 | ··· |
| A happy fly, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| If I live, | 3 | ··· |
| Or if I die. | 4 | ···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.