"On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book" is Victorian poet Charles Tennyson Turner's meditation on mortality and memory. Discovering a fly pressed in a book, the poem's speaker reflects that death is both inevitable and unpredictable, coming for human beings and flies alike. It's a shame, the speaker concludes, that so few people leave so beautiful a mark on the world: the fly's iridescent wings are a lovelier "monument" than most of the "memories" people leave behind them. This poem first appeared in Turner's 1873 collection Sonnets, Lyrics, and Translations.
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The Full Text of “On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book”
1Some hand, that never meant to do thee hurt,
2Has crushed thee here between these pages pent;
3But thou hast left thine own fair monument,
4Thy wings gleam out and tell me what thou wert:
5Oh! that the memories, which survive us here,
6Were half as lovely as these wings of thine!
7Pure relics of a blameless life, that shine
8Now thou art gone. Our doom is ever near:
9The peril is beside us day by day;
10The book will close upon us, it may be,
11Just as we lift ourselves to soar away
12Upon the summer-airs. But, unlike thee,
13The closing book may stop our vital breath,
14Yet leave no lustre on our page of death.
The Full Text of “On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book”
1Some hand, that never meant to do thee hurt,
2Has crushed thee here between these pages pent;
3But thou hast left thine own fair monument,
4Thy wings gleam out and tell me what thou wert:
5Oh! that the memories, which survive us here,
6Were half as lovely as these wings of thine!
7Pure relics of a blameless life, that shine
8Now thou art gone. Our doom is ever near:
9The peril is beside us day by day;
10The book will close upon us, it may be,
11Just as we lift ourselves to soar away
12Upon the summer-airs. But, unlike thee,
13The closing book may stop our vital breath,
14Yet leave no lustre on our page of death.
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“On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book” Summary
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“On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book” Themes
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Death and Legacy
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book”
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Lines 1-4
Some hand, that never meant to do thee hurt,
Has crushed thee here between these pages pent;
But thou hast left thine own fair monument,
Thy wings gleam out and tell me what thou wert: -
Lines 5-8
Oh! that the memories, which survive us here,
Were half as lovely as these wings of thine!
Pure relics of a blameless life, that shine
Now thou art gone. -
Lines 8-12
Our doom is ever near:
The peril is beside us day by day;
The book will close upon us, it may be,
Just as we lift ourselves to soar away
Upon the summer-airs. -
Lines 12-14
But, unlike thee,
The closing book may stop our vital breath,
Yet leave no lustre on our page of death.
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“On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book” Symbols
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The Fly
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“On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Metaphor
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Simile
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Repetition
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Caesura
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Enjambment
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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Apostrophe
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“On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Thee, Thou, Thine, Thy
- Pent
- Hast
- Fair
- Monument
- What thou wert
- Relics
- Peril
- Vital
- Lustre
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book” Speaker
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“On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book”
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More “On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book” Resources
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External Resources
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A Short Biography — Read a brief 1917 biography of Turner.
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Early Publications — Read a newspaper article from 1880 that discusses the publication of a collection of Turner's sonnets.
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A Portrait of Turner — See a portrait of Turner as a young man.
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The Tennyson Family — Read an article that discusses Turner's relationship with his brothers—including the more famous poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
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