Woolf's essay, although describing the short life of a day moth, is also used as a commentary on human life. Through her language, she effectively implies how the life of the moth is a model for humans to live their lives. The imagery shows the moth to be a "thread of vital light." Even though this moth may seem insignificant, it is exerting all of its energy into its life. He flutters around the window, not only with energy, but with "zest," something Woolf implies that humans should be doing. Humans all need that energy that possesses the moth; one needs to be consumed with vitality in order to make the most of our "meager" lives. Although many live to be in the eighties, that, like the span of a moth's life, is relatively small. By exerting th

One clarification that must be made is in regard to the term "death," in reference to humans. Besides the physical death of the moth, Woolf also implies a spiritual death. In terms of the way of life one should be living (one where their "heart"-meaning energy-should be exerted), a failure to do so will not necessarily lead to physical death immediately, but a spiritual death. Once you let go of your vitality, you will never be able to regain it. When the moth stopped using its energy and began to deteriorate, that would parallel with the beginning mental death of a person, not a physical death.

Virginia Woolf even employs the physical structure of her essay to reinforce her ideas. She compacts the entire life span of a moth into two short pages. Her paragraphs are also succinct, further reinforcing the theme of brevity. This idea of brevity coincides with her previously addressed idea that one needs to live their life with full energy and vitality. Her point is that life is short, so you have to live to your full potential (use of all of your energy) because you will not be around forever. She cleverly ties two implications together with her language; by using a small amount of words in comparison to her ideas about life, she reinforces her idea that one should live to their full potential, because even though life may be relatively short, a lot can be accomplished in one person's lifetime if their energy is used properly.

Woolf's use of language is very efficient; she has the great ability to pack a mindful of images into a relatively small amount of words. When first describing the moth, she says that he has "hay-coloured wings, fringed with a

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Approximate Word count = 1129
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)