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Virginia WoolfA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
At the essay’s start, the day moth is depicted as a humble, unspectacular creature. And yet, Virginia Woolf argues that the moth should not be described as a moth, but a combination of several different creatures fused into one. The day moth is given a sense of humanity and personality: It is a lonely, odd creature who lacks the intrigue of the night moth, as it fails to “excite that pleasant sense of dark autumn nights and ivy-blossom” (Paragraph 1). It flutters on the windowpane through which Woolf observes the outside world with awe.
Woolf ascribes a sense of alienation and desperation to the creature, pitying its flight along the window as it pales in comparison to the outside world’s variety and change: “What remained for him to do but fly to a third corner and then a fourth” (Paragraph 2). She doesn’t perceive the moth’s repetitive motions as an interruption to the beautiful pastoral scene, but rather a symbol of nature’s grandeur and cyclical quality. The moth’s movement speaks to its zest for life.
Woolf argues that the moth’s fragility and humility make it a perfect example of life, describing it as “a fiber, very thin but pure” of the world’s energy (Paragraph 2).
By Virginia Woolf
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A Haunted House and Other Short Stories
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A Room of One's Own
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Between The Acts
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Flush: A Biography
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How Should One Read a Book?
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Jacob's Room
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Kew Gardens
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Modern Fiction
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Moments of Being
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Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown
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Mrs. Dalloway
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Orlando
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
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The Lady in the Looking Glass
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The Mark on the Wall
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The New Dress
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The Voyage Out
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The Waves
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Three Guineas
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