In class this week we have been reading a poem called “The Lesson of the Moth” by Don Marquis. The poem was about a cockroach talking to a moth. The moth was trying to fry himself on the light bulb and the cockroach wanted to know why the moths were attracted to the light. The moth said he would rather have a moment of happiness and be beautiful which he believes is flying right into the fire instead of living a bored useless life. The cockroach didn’t agree with him but he wanted something as bad as the moth wanted to fry himself. The theme of this poem was that don’t play it safe especially when it comes to your dreams.

The poem, “The Lesson of the Moth,” has two philosophies expressed in the poem. The first philosophy is live your life on the edge and don’t be too civilized. The moth mentions that humans use to live just like he did but now humans are too civilized to enjoy life. We should be able to take risks but still be civilized enough to know what’s right from wrong. The second philosophy is to be your own person and be different. Don’t be the person that always follows the crowd.

If I had to pick on either the moth or the cockroach on how they see things in life, I would pick the cockroach. The cockroach said, “I would rather have half the happiness and twice the longevity
but at the same time I wish there was something I wanted as badly as he wanted to fry himself.” I agree with the cockroach because even if I had half the happiness as the moth did at least I could live my life to the fullest.