Decoding a Baroque Sonnet: Ambition, Death, and the Butterfly Allegory

The central issue raised in this sonnet is the reflection of the negative effects that accompany human ambition. Alongside ambition, the text addresses the theme of inevitable death as punishment for daring.

The issue (recalling the myth of Icarus) is presented here wrapped in the allegory of the butterfly, a symbol of fleeting beauty. This sonnet employs the poetic sermon style, characterized by Baroque hendecasyllable verse.

Analyzing Ambition and Recklessness in Baroque Poetry

The Allegory of the Butterfly and Icarus

The first line, featuring a clear litotes, states: "Mariposa, not only not a coward..." This line introduces the figurative term of the metaphor: the butterfly. It is described as "cowardly, reckless, and fatally blind." The syntactic structure, "not only... more," is dispensable for meaning but was widely used by the culterana school of poetry.

The butterfly hovers near the tragedy, near "the flame denied even the Phoenix." Not even the mythological bird is allowed physical contact with the flame before turning to ashes. However, the butterfly, described as "willful," seeks the flame "to keep his wings." This section showcases a mythological reference, highly favored by culterano poets, and utilizes hyperbaton.

The Consequences of Daring

"As in his later repented damage," is the beginning of the explanation: the butterfly, dazzled by the "splendor," "reached what looks" and, now "ambitious" (a new moral adjective attached to the initial "cowardly, reckless..."), proceeds to "surrender their ill-clad feather that burns."

The light burns, and the butterfly dies "in which lies sweetly glorious." The adjective "glorious" describes the desire that motivated its death. The grave, or "bone," where its life has landed, has been provided ("prevented") by the little bee "soon."

The Opposition: Butterfly vs. Bee

The opposition now focuses on these two species of the animal world:

• The Bee: Represents prudence and work.
• The Butterfly: Represents ambition and flirtation (recklessness).

The adverb "softly" recalls the work of the bee among flowers. The text contains elements of a fable, helping us understand the verse: "a mistake sumo highest happiness!" This line uses two similar adjectives at the beginning and end, presenting a perfect scheme of tragedy—a happy ending achieved through death.

The Poet's Moral Lesson

After extracting the lesson, the poet speaks in the final tercet: "not so shiny my ambition otherwise..." His ambition faces opposition, similar to the butterfly's, but not with the flame; just smoke will suffice.

This is clearly a Baroque and culterano triplet. The poet states that his ambition "will be ashes," but unlike the butterfly, he seeks not the light ("as bright contrast"), but the smoke, which is "less active, the more mild." Ashes and death remain the aftermath of life, concluding with a moral thought on ambition.

The tension in the poem is crucial; the poet creates difficulty in understanding the text, forcing the reader to appreciate the virtuous poetic form, its rhythms, and its literary figures.