3_8_22 - Close Reading - Analysis_Annotations_ The Death of the Moth
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1102
Subject
English
Date
Nov 24, 2024
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Pages
5
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The Death of the Moth
Virgona Woolf
Annotations/Close Reading
Instructions:
Use the 50 Essays textbooks to complete a close reading of
1. Woolf's biographical information (p. 467)
think about the rhetorical situation
how might her background influence her writing?
2.
"The Death of the Moth" (pp. 467-470)
annotate (focus on ideas, diction, syntax, figurative language,
organization)
In the essay, “The Death of the Moth”, Virginia Woolf uses metaphor to
convey that the relationship between life and death is one that is strange and
fragile. Woolf tells the story of the life and death of a moth, one that is petite
and insignificant. The moth is full of life, and lives life as if merry days and
warm summers are the only things the moth knows. However, as the moth
enters it’s last moments, it realizes that death is stronger than any other force.
As the moth knew life seconds before, it has now deteriorated into death. The
moth which had been so full of life, was now dead, showing that the line
between life and death is one that is fragile and easy to cross without
intention, or expectance.
1.
Woolf’s biographical information, the rhetorical situation.
-
About Virginia Woolf:
-
Born in 25 January 1882
-
Died 28 March 1941 (aged 59)
-
River Ouse, near Lewes, East Sussex, England
-
Before death:
-
After completing the manuscript of her last (posthumously published) novel,
Between the Acts, Woolf fell into a depression similar to that which she had
earlier experienced. The onset of World War II, the destruction of her
London home during the Blitz, and the cool reception given to her biography
of her late friend Roger Fry all worsened her condition until she was unable
to work.
2.
Annotations: ideas, diction, syntax, figurative language, organization, etc.
-
More to know about specific rhetorical devices:
In the essay, “The Death of the Moth”, Virginia Woolf uses metaphor to
convey that the relationship between life and death is one that is strange and
fragile. Woolf tells the story of the life and death of a moth, one that is petite and
insignificant. The moth is full of life, and lives life as if merry days and warm
summers are the only things the moth knows. However, as the moth enters it’s last
moments, it realizes that death is stronger than any other force. As the moth knew
life seconds before, it has now deteriorated into death. The moth which had been so
full of life, was now dead, showing that the line between life and death is one that
is fragile and easy to cross without intention, or expectance.
In the essay, Woolf uses metaphor to convey the relationship between life
and death. At the beginning of the essay, the moth is full of prosperity and
pleasure. Woolf says, “It was nothing but life.” (page 1). The moth lives his life, as
if positivity is the only thing it knows. This creates the moth as an embodiment of
life. As the others work in the sun, and appreciate the summers day, the moth flies
around, its’s only concern in getting from corner to corner. The moth does not think
about…show more content…
The moth which was once full of life, and excitement, was knocked over, and
battles death to find its way upright. As the moth struggles to right itself, Woolf
says, “The unmistakable tokens of death showed themselves.” The inanimate force
of death is being represented as something animate, in a way personifying, that is
causing a physical toll on the moth. Woolf uses this metaphor to show death as an
object, which can consume life, and in this case, the moth. As we just knew the
moth as a Lively, and nimble , we know know the moth as life that is weakening so
rapidly. Woolf uses this metaphor to compare the beginning of life to the now
deteriorating life of the
More to know about this essay piece:
Which of the following figures of speech does Woolf employ at the end of the first
paragraph in her description of a flock of rooks?
A metaphor
Paragraph 3 includes examples of each of the following EXCEPT
An oxymoron
What is the purpose of "I laid the pencil down again"
To signal an important
decision
What is the referent of "antagonist" at the end of paragraph 5?
Death
During the essay, the speaker does all of the following EXCEPT
Intervene
What is the meaning of the word "superb" in the middle of paragraph 5?
Exisquitte
How does the author view the struggle between life and death?
Tragic, yet
inevitable
Death
Intervene
Plot, setting, character
To signal an important decision
As tragic yet inevitable
Metaphor
Oxymoron
Subordinate clauses
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One two and three
supernatural inspiration of creative thought
irrevocable disappearance of the moth’s head
) In context, the word “burning” means “avenging.”
something more than a moth, both literally and figuratively
(C) III and IV only YELLOW FLAME
imply that the passage of time has several different meanings
Inspired
self-destructive yet self-perpetuating passion of the artist
B) 7-8
(D) Expansion from descriptive narration to poetic meditation
The most prominent use of a rhetorical device in her essay is similes. In the essay
she describes the moth as hybrids, and says “ "Neither gay like butterflies nor
somber like their own species." The similes Woolf uses compares two opposites
together and giving us more insight on the moth.
-
Uses moth metaphorically to symbolize way of life.
-
Mark Twain once stated, “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A
man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” In Virginia Woolf’s
essay The Death of the Moth, she observes the moth’s actions and the
struggles it faces. Woolf keeps an eye on the moth and watches as the moths
go through its course of life of struggling to get through the windowpanes,
and eventually reaches death. The figurative language and syntax in the
essay efficiently conveys the matters of life.
OVERALL SUMMARY
The Death of the Moth compares the insignificant short struggle and life
of a moth to the daily struggles of human life. Moth as a symbol of
human and it relates to human's struggle to survive and how human
will encounter death as well.
THEMES
The main themes in “The Death of the Moth” are the will to live, the
strangeness of life and death, and the limitations of an individual life.
The will to live: Woolf admires the moth for his vitality and his heroic
struggle to live in the face of the overwhelming inevitability of death.
Main Thesis / Main Purpose
Thesis: Woolf's main purpose is to show: • that the moth's actions
embody our own actions. Nature is powerful. The same energy which
inspired the rooks, the plowmen, the horses, and even, it seemed, the
lean bare-backed downs, sent the moth fluttering from side to side of his
square of the window-pane.