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The poem The Dead Butterfly
by Denise Levertov opens with
the persona’s perception
of the color of a butterfly,
which is no more white since
it radiance has faded into greenish
color like that of a stone that
turns mossy. (Stone here is
a symbol of death). The stone
was used to build the whole
city. In the garden, there is
a presence of two butterflies.
One is dead and another is alive.
The living butterfly which is
flying is of white color and
the dead one is of rook green
color. The living one is in
motion and the dead one is motionless.
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The poet juxtaposes
the dead butterfly with
living ones which is
flying with pristine
whiteness among marigolds,
roses and tamarisk hedges.
Rain blown suggests
freshness, life and
fertility in contrast
with stone which is
hard and lifeless. Green
rock stands for the
possibility of life
after death that is
the rebirth. It also
suggests that the body
of the butterfly dies,
but the soul does not.
It goes to get the new
life in another space.
The soul transmigrates
from here to there.
Here the poet has shown
a dignity of an insect
even after its death. |
“Dead Butterfly”
is a meditative poem in the
mode of “magic realism”
unlike her later politically
motivated poems. The poem involves
a kind of epiphany as the persona
meditates on the butterflies
flitting around in an environment
of rocks. She is naturally drawn
into meditating on the difference
between the fragile creatures
and there evanescent life, and
the though rock and its permanent
‘life’. In poetic
terms, this dichotomy is one
of morality versus immortality,
invincibility versus vulnerability,
and by suggestion, masculine
versus feminine nature also.
Such meditative and evocative
poetry of Levertov concerns
itself with the search for meaning,
she sees the poet’s role
as a priestly one; the poet
is the mediator between ordinary
people and the divine mysteries.
Her perspective, however, remains
a female one and her work has
been a large factor in the acceptance
of domestic life as a subject
matter for poetry. Levertov
celebrates female spirituality
and sexuality in her poems.
In “The Dead Butterfly”
we find the association with
the butterfly, an insect of
erratic movement. The lines
of the poem keep the mind sliding
ever onto a new meaning forcing
the reader into new re-readings
of the words, and making them
come to no final rest in the
equally erratic poem. The poem
is itself like a beautiful butterfly,
illuminating as it is approached.
The
Dead Butterfly
- Poem by Denise Levertov
Now
I see its whiteness
is not white but green, traced
with green,
and resembles the stones
of which the city is built
quarried high in the mountains.
Everywhere
among the marigolds
the rainblown roses and the
hedges
of tamarisk are white
butterflies
this morning, in constant
tremulous movement, only those
that lie dead revealing
their rockgreen color and the
bold
cut of the wings.
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