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Virginia WoolfA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“They are hybrid creatures, neither gay like butterflies nor somber like their own species.”
In this first observation, Virginia Woolf’s perspective proves unconventional; she refuses to accept the current classification of day moths. She is observant of nature, using scientific terms such as “hybrid” and “species” in combination with poetic observations about the emotional quality of various insects. She attributes human emotions to insects, humanizing them.
“Nevertheless, the present specimen, with his narrow hay-colored wings, fringed with a tassel of the same color, seemed to be content with life.”
The narrator’s connection with the moth grows as she notices its “contentment” with life. She assigns a gender to the creature, anthropomorphizing him. The reader is aware that the moth will die from the essay’s title. This is an example of dramatic irony as the reader has access to information that the narrator lacks.
“The rooks too were keeping one of their annual festivities; soaring round the tree tops until it looked as if a vast net with thousands of black knots in it had been cast up into the air; which, after a few moments sank slowly down upon the trees until every twig seemed to have a knot at the end of it. Then, suddenly, the net would be thrown into the air again in a wider circle this time, with the utmost clamor and vociferation, as though to be thrown into the air and settle slowly down upon the tree tops were a tremendously exciting experience.”
The narrator frames the rooks’ excitement as something instinctual. The simile of the rooks as a net explores this idea, using imagery to show that the individual rooks are part of a singular, vast fabric, making up one entity. This sets some groundwork for later discussion of nature as a whole.
By Virginia Woolf
A Haunted House
A Haunted House
Virginia Woolf
A Haunted House and Other Short Stories
A Haunted House and Other Short Stories
Virginia Woolf
A Room of One's Own
A Room of One's Own
Virginia Woolf
Between The Acts
Between The Acts
Virginia Woolf
Flush: A Biography
Flush: A Biography
Virginia Woolf
How Should One Read a Book?
How Should One Read a Book?
Virginia Woolf
Jacob's Room
Jacob's Room
Virginia Woolf
Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens
Virginia Woolf
Modern Fiction
Modern Fiction
Virginia Woolf
Moments of Being
Moments of Being
Virginia Woolf
Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown
Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown
Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf
Orlando
Orlando
Virginia Woolf
The Duchess and the Jeweller
The Duchess and the Jeweller
Virginia Woolf
The Lady in the Looking Glass
The Lady in the Looking Glass
Virginia Woolf
The Mark on the Wall
The Mark on the Wall
Virginia Woolf
The New Dress
The New Dress
Virginia Woolf
The Voyage Out
The Voyage Out
Virginia Woolf
The Waves
The Waves
Virginia Woolf
Three Guineas
Three Guineas
Virginia Woolf