The Fly - Imagery, symbolism and themes

Imagery and symbolism

Fly - Flies live for a very short time. They are easily killed. Consequently they are frequently used as a image of the transient and ephemeral nature of life.

Blake may be alluding to the well known, bleak assessment of the human condition by the Duke of Gloucester in King Lear:

‘As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods;
They kill us for their sport.' (Act 4 Sc i: 38-9)

Dance … sing – The apparent gaiety of these words is undercut by their sobering echo in The Chimney Sweeper (E), as well as the biblical warning familiar to Blake's contemporaries about the foolishness of revelry when ‘tomorrow you may die' Isaiah 22:13.

Investigating imagery and symbolism

What are the immediate connotations of a fly in your mind?

Themes

The nature of the world and its creator; the nature of humanity

The speaker sees him/herself as being as totally insignificant to, and as totally subject to, some blind force in the world, just as the fly is to human beings. If a blind force is responsible for the world then the human being is of no more significance and value than a fly. It is only consoling to believe that human beings are like their creator if we assume that this creator is benevolent and well-disposed to his creation.

Investigating themes

Look at The Lamb, A Dream and On Another's Sorrow in Songs of Innocence and see what comparisons and contrasts you find with this poem.

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What do you mean that you have gone up, all of you, to the housetops, ²you who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle. ³All your leaders have fled together; without the bow they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away. ⁴Therefore I said: Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁵For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains. ⁶And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. ⁷Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen took their stand at the gates. ⁸He has taken away the covering of Judah. In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, ⁹and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, ¹⁰and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. ¹¹You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago. ¹²In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; ¹³and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. ¹⁴The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die, says the Lord God of hosts. ¹⁵Thus says the Lord God of hosts, Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: ¹⁶What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? ¹⁷Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you ¹⁸and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house. ¹⁹I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. ²⁰In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, ²¹and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ²²And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. ²³And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house. ²⁴And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. ²⁵In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.

¹The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? ²Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle. ³All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far. ⁴Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people. ⁵For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains. ⁶And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. ⁷And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate. ⁸And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest. ⁹Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool. ¹⁰And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall. ¹¹Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago. ¹²And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: ¹³And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die. ¹⁴And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts. ¹⁵Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say, ¹⁶What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock? ¹⁷Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. ¹⁸He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house. ¹⁹And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down. ²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: ²¹And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. ²²And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. ²³And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. ²⁴And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. ²⁵In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

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