The poem
Fair Child of Sun and Summer! we behold With eager eyes thy wings bedropp'd with gold; The purple spots that o'er thy mantle spread, The sapphire's lively blue, the ruby's red, Ten thousand various blended tints surprise, Beyond the rainbow's hues or peacock's eyes: Not Judah's king in eastern pomp array'd, Whose charms allur'd from far the Sheban maid, High on his glitt'ring throne, like you could shine (Nature's completest miniature divine): For thee the rose her balmy buds renews, And silver lilies fill their cups with dews; Flora for thee the laughing fields perfumes, For thee Pomona sheds her choicest blooms, Soft Zephyr wafts thee on his gentlest gales O'er Hackwood's sunny hill and verdant vales; For thee, gay queen of insects! do we rove From walk to walk, from beauteous grove to grove; And let the critics know, whose pedant pride And awkward jests our sprightly sport deride: That all who honours, fame, or wealth pursue, Change but the name of things--they hunt for you.
There is something about butterflies that do make me want to stop what I'm doing and just look at them. Warton's first line is wonderful--calling the butterfly a child of Spring and Summer. Love how buds open just for them...and by the end, the extreme statement that people aren't searching for wealth, but butterflies.
There are some great images in the poem.
I loved the way Warton desccribed the butterflies. There were so many beautiful descriptive words that just kept me reading!