The Fly by William Blake – Summary and Analysis

Stanza 1
In the first stanza, the poet who is sitting outside in summer is thinking
about a little fly, whom his thoughtless hand (means without thinking
his hand) killed. The poet is thus not happy with what he has done.
However his conscious wakes up after killing the fly.

As a Romantic Poet, he is connected to nature. Thus both the summer

and the fly have significance in his poetry. The summer symbolises
hope, prosperity and joy whereas the killing of the fly symbolises doom,
blunder and something quite contrary to the former.

Stanza 2
In the second stanza, the poet compares himself to the fly. He asks the
fly (in imaginations as it is death now) a rhetorical question “aren’t both
of them similar to each other”.

In real life, it seems to be a wrong comparison. However the poet here is

talking in terms of their lives. Both of them are created by God, both live
their life, both have to die one day (though fly has died now).

Stanza 3
The 3rd stanza, continuous from the 2nd one. According to the poet,
they are similar in the way that he also dances, drinks and sings like the
fly until one day when someone (here means God) will “brush his wing”
i.e. take away his life as he did to fly.

Here the poet focuses on two important aspects of life – first both fly and
him (or man in general) enjoy their lives, they dance, sing, drink and do
whatever they want. Secondly both of them are subjected to death which
in inevitable.
The fly was flying here and there and suddenly the poet killed it with his
hand. Similarly, he will to meet the same fate one day.

Stanza 4 & 5
The poet says that it is the thought which makes him (or in general
sense, man) different from fly. It is good as well as bad – good in the
sense that it makes human wiser than the fly and bad in the sense that it
makes us fear from death.

The poet says that for humans, thought is our life, strength and
breath and even the thought of death (i.e. everything). Thus if a man
stops thinking he will be as happy as fly if he lives or if he dies

These lines are quite significant and reflect the message of the poem.
The poet is of the view that our though (or in other words analysis of
paralysis) is something which makes us to suffer, to fear and to run from
the death. It is a hurdle in the way of happiness.

If the man stops thinking about death and starts enjoying his today, he
will remain as happy as fly (as fly never cares about death). Thus the
poem ends in a universal message i.e. to live the life without thinking
about future.

Source: https://englishsummary.com/lesson/fly-william-blake-
summary/