ED-Two Butterflies

Question 1

[Two Butterflies went out at Noon]

And waltzed upon a Farm

Answer 1

‘noon’ + ‘farm’ = rural setting, height summer

personifying ‘waltz’ + metrical regularity = bflies’ graceful movt. + exquis. beauty

Question 2

‘And Stepped straight through the firmament / And rested, on a Beam -‘

Answer 2

L3 tone sublime ast. as bflies disapp ‘through’ sky
euph. ass. = ease bflies disapp
Met. ‘beam’ = beam light @ frontier b/w life + death
Ostens. S1 = bflies death, but
pers. verb ‘stepped’ = range motion beyond physicality + luminous diction (‘noon - firmament - beam’) suffuses S1 with eth. quality = bflies not dying but transcending
therefore bflies = symbol poetic abil. breach limits everyday cognition + nature’s ability insp. poet great feats imag. percep.

Question 3

‘bore away / Upon a shining Sea’

Answer 3

connot. ‘bore away’ + enjam. L5-L6 = energet. sense. transp.
met. bfly as seafarer = evinces once more notion of trans, breaching limits
bflies, like poet, perc. realm unknown ontology beyond limits usual percep.

Question 4

‘Never yet’ + ‘Their coming, mentioned - be -‘

Answer 4

L7+8 indicate rom. notion that the ‘coming’ (ie the presence) of these bflies (and the perceps they represent) are ‘never’ seen or ‘mentioned’ by others, apparent as they are only to the seer-like eye of the poet

Question 5

‘If spoken by the distant Bird - / If met in ether sea / No notice - was - to me -‘

Answer 5

S3 reverses logic S2 - poet begins lose sight bflies even though ext. env. can bear witness to them
final lines = sp’s rueful acknow. poetic i.d. w bflies begins to fail
fitful dashes = breakdown previously cohesive imag. exp.