Death Of The Moth
Olivia Rytelewski
Mrs. Albuquerque
AP Language and Composition
In the essay, “The Death of the Moth,” Virginia Woolf illustrates the universal struggle between life and death by comparing the two in one metaphor. She portrays the struggle of life in the face of death, and acknowledges it as both valiance and fruitlessness. The diction Woolf uses also helps convey her perspective on this topic. The varied sentence structures as well as other literary elements add to the piece, to make it more powerful. The metaphor itself is represented through the life, and end of, a moth. To begin her essay, Woolf presents the moth as a simple creature. She uses vivid adjectives and descriptions to depict her subject. The sentence structure while the moth is alive is descriptive, with long and complex sentences. For example, “" It was a pleasant morning, mid-September, mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than that of the summer months.” As soon as the topic of death comes about, the tone and structure changes. Woolf begins using short and choppy sentences, such as, “The body relaxed, and instantly grew stiff. The struggle was over. The insignificant little creature now knew death.” These two examples show how greatly the sentence structure differs in both parts of this metaphor. Accompanying the sentence structure is the metaphor itself. The moth is physically dying, which Woolf depicts within this anecdote. She describes it as it tries to overcome its fate, which is futile. “After perhaps a seventh attempt he slipped from the wooden ledge and fell, fluttering his wings, on to his back on the window sill…It flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he could no longer raise himself; his legs struggled vainly.” Woolf’s detailed description of exactly what is happening in this struggle is pivotal to the true meaning of the passage. Immediately after, she begins to respond to what she sees. She states, “But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right
Mrs. Albuquerque
AP Language and Composition
In the essay, “The Death of the Moth,” Virginia Woolf illustrates the universal struggle between life and death by comparing the two in one metaphor. She portrays the struggle of life in the face of death, and acknowledges it as both valiance and fruitlessness. The diction Woolf uses also helps convey her perspective on this topic. The varied sentence structures as well as other literary elements add to the piece, to make it more powerful. The metaphor itself is represented through the life, and end of, a moth. To begin her essay, Woolf presents the moth as a simple creature. She uses vivid adjectives and descriptions to depict her subject. The sentence structure while the moth is alive is descriptive, with long and complex sentences. For example, “" It was a pleasant morning, mid-September, mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than that of the summer months.” As soon as the topic of death comes about, the tone and structure changes. Woolf begins using short and choppy sentences, such as, “The body relaxed, and instantly grew stiff. The struggle was over. The insignificant little creature now knew death.” These two examples show how greatly the sentence structure differs in both parts of this metaphor. Accompanying the sentence structure is the metaphor itself. The moth is physically dying, which Woolf depicts within this anecdote. She describes it as it tries to overcome its fate, which is futile. “After perhaps a seventh attempt he slipped from the wooden ledge and fell, fluttering his wings, on to his back on the window sill…It flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he could no longer raise himself; his legs struggled vainly.” Woolf’s detailed description of exactly what is happening in this struggle is pivotal to the true meaning of the passage. Immediately after, she begins to respond to what she sees. She states, “But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right