William Wordsworth wrote two versions of the poem “To A Butterfly,” one in March, the other in April. In reading the poems, the situation presented is obviously the same, only interpreted differently and reflected differently. As Wordsworth himself said about poetry: it is “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity: the emotion is contemplated till by a species of reaction the tranquillity gradually disappears.” Both versions of the poem are about the memory that the sight of a butterfly brings back, not so much a memory but a feeling the poet gets upon seeing this butterfly.In the first version of the poem the Wordsworth wrote, which I will call the “March” poem, the poet begs the butterfly to stay a while, and not to fly away. He is not calm, but almost desperate to have it stay. The phrasing of the first two lines of the poem seem to imply the inevitable disappearance of the creature, which to me is illustrated when he says “do not take thy flight” instead of “do not take flight” or “do not fly away.” The next two lines seem to personify the butterfly, for to the poet, the butterfly tells a story from his past. He finds that the creature “talks” to him, as a “historian of [his] infancy.” The butterfly revives “dead times” in him, memories past. The two lines that follow (7-8) talk about the paradox the butterfly brings, the fact that such a “gay creature” can put such a “solemn image” into his heart. The memories that the butterfly brings with it are not happy, carefree memories, but ones laden with the passage of time and all the woes that come with time. From lines 10 to 18 the poet describes the memory, one of happy times when as a young child, he and his sister would chase butterflies from bush to bush. In the last two li...
