"To a Butterfly" was written by William Wordsworth in 1801.
When he was a kid, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy would chase butterflies in the summer. When he was about 8 years old his mother passed away. He and his sister were separated. He wrote two poems called "To a Butterfly" which seem to be in homage of his sister.
Below you can listen to two different recordings of one of Wordsworth’s poems "To a Butterfly". The 2nd mp3 is of only the first verse. It’s interesting how different the readings are.
MP3 Recording of To a Butterfly
MP3 Recording of To a Butterfly (1st verse only)
To a Butterfly
I’ve watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless!–not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!
This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister’s flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We’ll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.
1st recording by Alan Davis Drake
2nd recording by Nicky504
This article was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2015 at 7:06 pm and is filed under Mama Lisa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
2 Responses to “To a Butterfly – Poem with Recording”
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July 2nd, 2015 at 7:40 am
Hi, my name is drew and I am 11 years and I am currently traveling Asia with my family. I really like your website for I love poems and it is very educational, especially because I am being homeschooled. Are you still traveling the world with your daughter? Have you been to Malaysia as that is where we are going next; we are currently in vietnam.
Kind regards
Drew.
July 2nd, 2015 at 1:45 pm
Hi Drew,
Thanks for writing! We’re not traveling now. My daughter attends the school near here so we can’t go too far! I hope you have a wonderful trip in Malaysia.
Best wishes,
Mama Lisa