Understanding
- List of things the spider offers to the fly if she visits his parlour:
- To show her many curious things.
- To let her rest on his comfortable bed with fine sheets and pretty curtains.
- To give her nice things to eat from his pantry.
- To let her look at herself in his little looking-glass (mirror).
- Features of his parlour the spider tells the fly about:
- It’s the prettiest little parlour; the way is up a winding stair.
- There are many curious things to see there.
- Words/expressions used to flatter the fly (Stanza 4):
- “Sweet creature”
- “You’re witty and you’re wise”
- “How handsome are your gauzy wings”
- “How brilliant are your eyes”
- Why did the spider think the fly would come again?
- The spider knew the fly was silly and would be tempted by his flattery and offers.
- What did the spider do to trap the fly?
- He weaved a subtle web in a corner, set his table to dine, and waited for the fly to return.
- What did the spider plan to do once the fly was caught?
- The spider planned to eat the fly.
- What made the fly fall into the spider’s trap at last?
- The fly was fooled by the spider’s flattering words and forgot the warnings.
- Words or expressions that show how the spider caught the fly:
- “Up jumped the cunning spider, and fiercely held her fast”
- “He dragged her up his winding stair, into the dismal den”
- Advice the poet gives to the reader:
- Never trust or listen to silly, flattering words, and always ignore bad advice.
- Rhyming words in the poem:
- fly/spy, stair/there, vain/again, thin/in, do/you, wise/eyes, shelf/self, den/again, sing/wing, head/lead, by/hue, fast/last, den/again, read/heed, eye/fly.
Words (from the poem):
- without success (stanza 1): in vain
- tired (stanza 2): weary
- see (stanza 3): behold
- clothes (stanza 5): robes
- strongly (stanza 6): fiercely
- attention (stanza 7): heed