Death of a Moth analysis Essay Example
Commentary on Virginia Woolf’s “The Death of a Moth”
“The essay is a notoriously flexible and adaptable form. It possesses the freedom to move anywhere, in all directions” says Lopate in the introduction to The Art of the Personal Essay. Virginia Woolf in her personal essay “The Death of the Moth” uses exceptional description and detail to the point where the reader can put themselves in her shoes and see what she is seeing. Although this essay may at first appear to be just a mere narrative detailed description of Woolf’s observation of an insignificant moth that is trapped in the room she is in, through further reflection, a deeper meaning can be seen. Woolf challenges and pushes the thin line between showing not telling throughout her essay. Woolf’s ability to balance the showing and telling of the moth is what makes the essay absorb the reader’s attention.
As Lopate says, “All good essayists make use at times of storytelling devices: descriptions of character and place, incident, dialogue, conflict. They needn’t narrate some actual event to produce a narrative”, can be seen in Woolf’s work. Woolf starts out by describing the setting with great detail and intrigues the reader to not only continue reading but to really stop and imagine themself in a room looking out of the window seeing the farm lands such as when she says, “The plough was already scoring the field opposite the window, and where the share had been, the earth was pressed flat and gleamed with moisture. Such vigor came rolling in from the fields and the down beyond that it was difficult to keep the eyes strictly turned upon the book.” As the essay continues, the focus on the moth begins to increase to the point where every one of the moth’s movements is being narrated by the author which can be seen through the quote, “He was trying to resume his dancing, but seemed either so stiff or so awkward that he could only flutter to the bottom of the windowpane; and when he tried to fly across
“The essay is a notoriously flexible and adaptable form. It possesses the freedom to move anywhere, in all directions” says Lopate in the introduction to The Art of the Personal Essay. Virginia Woolf in her personal essay “The Death of the Moth” uses exceptional description and detail to the point where the reader can put themselves in her shoes and see what she is seeing. Although this essay may at first appear to be just a mere narrative detailed description of Woolf’s observation of an insignificant moth that is trapped in the room she is in, through further reflection, a deeper meaning can be seen. Woolf challenges and pushes the thin line between showing not telling throughout her essay. Woolf’s ability to balance the showing and telling of the moth is what makes the essay absorb the reader’s attention.
As Lopate says, “All good essayists make use at times of storytelling devices: descriptions of character and place, incident, dialogue, conflict. They needn’t narrate some actual event to produce a narrative”, can be seen in Woolf’s work. Woolf starts out by describing the setting with great detail and intrigues the reader to not only continue reading but to really stop and imagine themself in a room looking out of the window seeing the farm lands such as when she says, “The plough was already scoring the field opposite the window, and where the share had been, the earth was pressed flat and gleamed with moisture. Such vigor came rolling in from the fields and the down beyond that it was difficult to keep the eyes strictly turned upon the book.” As the essay continues, the focus on the moth begins to increase to the point where every one of the moth’s movements is being narrated by the author which can be seen through the quote, “He was trying to resume his dancing, but seemed either so stiff or so awkward that he could only flutter to the bottom of the windowpane; and when he tried to fly across