The Fly

"The Flea"by John Donne (1633)

One of the most famous English-language poems about an insect, John Donne’s “The Flea” uses a flea in an extended metaphor in a larger argument about the nature of physical love. Donne’s speaker stands at a rhetorical distance from the insect, and the poem’s language has more emotional restraint than Shapiro’s. Both poets see their respective insects as symbols of life, death, and sexual union.

"On a Fly drinking out of his Cup" by William Oldys (1732)

Oldys is best known as the first editor of the Biographia Britannica, a role he occupied from 1747 until his death in 1761. His “On a Fly drinking out of his Cup” showcases a powerful compassion between speaker and fly. The speaker of Oldys’s poem encourages the fly to “[d]rink with me and drink as I” (Line 2), and views the fly as having equal value to himself. Like in many poems about flies, Oldys’s fly is a sign of death. But the fly’s inevitable reminder of death brings Oldys’s speaker closer to the creature, stating, “Both alike are mine and thine / Hastening quick to their decline” (Lines 5-6).

The Waste Land by T.