To a Butterfly | William Wordsworth

About the Poem

A butterfly is a thing of beauty and therefore a source of joy for ever. How captivating its colors and how intricate the patterns on its tiny wings are!

About the Poet

        William Wordsworth(1770 - 1885) is the high priest of nature, who calls himself 'a worshipper of nature which teaches us more for man and of a moral evil and of a good than all the sages can.' The poem is addressed to a butterfly. He observes it sucking honey; then he invites it to come to his orchard and sit near him and then they will talk about the days of youth which are no more. Coleridge and he jointly published the 'Lyrical Ballads' which inaugurated the English Romantic Age.

To a Butterfly

I've watched you now a full half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow flower;
And, little Butterfly ! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.

How motionless ! - not frozen seas
More motionless ! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,

And calls you forth again !
This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister's flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;

Here lodge as in a sanctuary !
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough !
We'll talk of sunshine and of song,

And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.