Analysis of The Spider And The Fly.
Patrick Bronte 1777 – 1861
The sun shines bright, the morning's fair,
The gossamers float on the air,
The dew-gems twinkle in the glare,
The spider's loom
Is closely plied, with artful care,
Even in my room.
See how she moves in zigzag line,
And draws along her silken twine,
Too soft for touch, for sight too fine,
Nicely cementing:
And makes her polished drapery shine,
The edge indenting.
Her silken ware is gaily spread,
And now she weaves herself a bed,
Where, hiding all but just her head,
She watching lies
For moths or gnats, entangled spread,
Or buzzing flies.
You cunning pest! why, forward, dare
So near to lay your bloody snare!
But you to kingly courts repair
With fell design,
And spread with kindred courtiers there
Entangling twine.
Ah, silly fly! will you advance?
I see you in the sunbeam dance:
Attracted by the silken glance
In that dread loom;
Or blindly led, by fatal chance,
To meet your doom.
Ah! think not, 'tis the velvet flue
Of hare, or rabbit, tempts your view;
Or silken threads of dazzling hue,
To ease your wing,
The foaming savage, couched for you,
Is on the spring.
Entangled! freed! and yet again
You touch! 'tis o'er, that plaintive strain,
That mournful buzz, that struggle vain,
Proclaim your doom:
Up to the murderous den you're ta'en,
Your bloody tomb!
So thoughtless youths will trifling play
With dangers on their giddy way,
Or madly err in open day
Through passions fell,
And fall, though warned oft, a prey
To death and hell!
But hark! the fluttering leafy trees
Proclaim the gently swelling breeze,
Whilst through my window, by degrees,
Its breathings play:
The spider's web, all tattered flees,
Like thought, away.
Thus worldlings lean on broken props,
And idly weave their cobweb-hopes,
And hang o'er hell by spider's ropes,
Whilst sins enthral;
Affliction blows, their joy elopes,
And down they fall!
Scheme | AAABAB CCCDCD EEEFEF AAACAC GGGBGB HHHDHD IJJBIB KKKLKL MMMKMK XNNONO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Burns stanza (80%) Tetractys (30%) Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 01110101 011101 01110001 011 11011101 10011 11110101 01010101 11111111 10010 010101001 011 01011101 01110101 11011101 1101 11110101 1101 11011101 11111101 11110101 1101 011101001 0101 11011101 1110011 01010101 0111 11011101 1111 11110101 11110111 110111001 1111 01010111 1101 01010101 111101101 11011101 0111 1101001111 1101 11011101 11011101 11010101 1101 0111101 1101 110100101 01010101 11110101 111 0111101 1101 1111101 0101111 01101111 1101 01011101 0111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,998 |
Words | 314 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 142 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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"The Spider And The Fly." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54372/the-spider-and-the-fly.>.
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