"The Fly"

This is my poem analysis for English class a while ago.
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[TD]Little fly,
Thy summer’s play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink and sing,
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength and breath,
And the want Of thought is death,

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.


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Blake is obviously comparing his life to a fly’s by saying “Am not I/A fly like thee?”. Given that he is Catholic, and has expressed his religious affiliation in other poems, he is making a connection between him and the fly, and God with humans.

He compares his dominant hand over the fly to the same hand of God because he too can have life taken away just as easy as a brush of a fly’s wing. He accepts that this is part of nature and furthermore is not afraid to die if it is in the hands of a much superior intellect.

He believes that fly should not be labeled as inferior to them, as we do not know what kind of world they live in – it is impossible value the significance of their life. He reflects how humans perceive the less-developed elements of our world.

It emphasizes the world’s unimportance through the roles of humans and the fly.
He acknowledges that humans play their own distinct role, like the fly, by living happily, drinking and singing, until God’s hand brushes their existence to an even happier state.

Interesting analogy...except where Blake asked of the fly "Art thou a man like me?" I can see how a man's intellect can connect a few dots and see a bigger picture between a fly and a man. However, there is absolutely NO way that a fly could or would ponder over himself as being a man in any comparison at all. Therefore, do not give an insect or animal or any creature that GOD gave mankind DOMINION over, equal standing in any format. No wonder there are people who would believe that their DNA includes apes. Who needs to compair themselves even lower, to a fly?