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 dance,And drink, and sing,Till some blind handShall brush my wing.
If thought is lifeAnd strength and breath,And 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 Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Project Gutenberg ebook #1934; 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 Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1789–1794), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1934, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/blake-songs/the-fly.html, id L02897.
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. 40% 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.