-William Wordsworth

This poem by William Wordsworth is an example for the large amount of poems dealing with butterflies, such as "The Butterfly" by A. Steele, "To the butterfly" by S. Rogers and many others.

Not only in poetry but also in other kinds of literature such as novels, short stories, fairy tales etc. butterflies can be found. They are mostly symbols of lightness, freedom, and nature.

An example from belles-lettres is the love story "Schmetterling" (butterfly) by Sharron Gold and Gabriel Barylli.

Under the name "Papillon" (butterfly) Henri Charrière tells the story of his adventurous life forcing open safes, being a killer and prisoner. His urge to be free as a butterfly makes him break out of jail many times.

After an apoplexy of the brain Jean-Dominique Bauby suffers from the locked-in syndrome. This means he can’t move a part of his body but his left eye. His mind is clear but he can neither speak nor eat. The only chance to express his concerns and thoughts is to dictate them by moving his eyelid. This is the way he wrote his book "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" describing his life as "living dead body" and his thoughts flying around like butterflies. But his body is locked like in a diving bell, he can’t escape from his often painful situation, he can neither defend himself nor discuss with others.

In "Dr. Faustus" by Thomas Mann the butterfly Hetera esmeralda is a symbol of easy living and syphilis.

The fairy tale "Olivenbaum" (olive tree) by Folke Tegetthoff tells the love story of a caterpillar and an olive tree. Both of them can’t see. As they are both ashamed of their appearance they are not true to each other and each one tells that it looks very attractive. Becoming a butterfly the caterpillar gets the ability to see and fly. The olive tree is afraid that the caterpillars will leave it now, seeing its real appearance. But the caterpillar loves it and stays with it. For the caterpillar the olive tree is the most beautiful tree in the world.

In her short story "Die alte Dame und der Schmetterling" (The old lady and the butterfly) Ina Seidel tells the experiences of an old lady and a butterfly.

On a cold day in February a peacock butterfly sits on the old lady’s slipper. Wanting to take on the shoe she places the butterfly on a plant in the room. However, it falls down as if it was dead. After some days it has recovered and now lives with the old lady who finds its behavior a bit strange. She tries to feed the seemingly weak animal and looks after it. The old lady would never lock it in a cage. So they pass quite happy days until a sunny day in March, when the butterfly suddenly starts flying for the first time in the house and disappears through an opened window.