Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Francisco de Quevedo's "The Fly" is a clever, satirical poem that serves as an allegory for the hedonistic pleasures of life, specifically the indulgence in wine. The poem employs the dialogue between a fly and a frog as a vehicle to explore the virtues and vices of succumbing to earthly pleasures-symbolized by wine-over a life of moderation and sobriety, represented by the frog and its affinity for water.

The fly opens the discourse, voicing its preference for wine over water. It scorns water as a "murmurer" that harbors hidden dangers, while praising wine as "divine." The insect finds the sensual, even spiritual, enjoyment of wine irresistible, embracing the notion that it would rather "die in wine" than live in water. It's a direct rebuff to the frog's existence, painting the amphibian's life as dull and insipid.

In the subsequent stanzas, the fly elaborates on its hedonistic philosophy. It argues that unlike the frog, it is "beloved" and goes "unbid to ev'ry feast," enjoying the finest wines. It roams freely in gardens and even takes part in political celebrations, buzzing in the chorus for the king. The fly taunts the frog for its grim existence among "newts and frogs" and its abode in "holes and bogs."

As the fly boasts of its courtly life and the privileges it enjoys, the poem reflects a cultural preference for wine as an emblem of civilization, contrasted against water's association with the uncultured and the mundane. The fly asserts its own 'quality,' claiming its right to roam "in cities and courts," attributing this to the joys of wine.

Interestingly, the fly concludes its sermon by invoking Anacreon, an ancient Greek poet renowned for his lyrics praising love and wine. The fly cites Anacreon's death by wine as a finale to its hedonistic credo, thereby conflating the act of dying for the pleasure of wine as almost an honor. In doing so, the fly dismisses the frog's lifestyle as undesirable and urges it to "learn to drink wine" and thus to sing, rather than croak.

However, what makes this poem captivating is the irony that Quevedo injects into the fly's rhetoric. On the surface, the fly seems to have the upper hand, but the poem can also be read as a cautionary tale against reckless indulgence. The fly, in its intoxicated state, might overlook the perils of excess, symbolized in its willingness to "die in wine." Quevedo subtly leaves it to the reader to decide who has the wiser philosophy-making "The Fly" an intricate tapestry of hedonism, caution, and irony.

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