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What does the expression "the wheel breaks the butterfly" means?
I searched on the wiki, and I know that the "wheel" referes to the Catherine wheel, used for torture.
But I still didn't quite get the meaning of it...
For an example, the song Paradise by Coldplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G4isv_Fylg
"Life goes on
it get so heavy
the wheel breaks
the butterfly"
And the song Falling Down by Oasis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5BDyjgbjPU
"Catch the wheel that
breaks the butterfly.
I cried the rain that
fills the ocean wide"
If anyone can help me to understand the meaning of this in these kind of context...
Thanks!
5 Answers
- Anonymous8 years agoFavorite Answer
Hi Juliana,
The phrase you are referring to originated in the poem, "Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" by Alexander Pope. In this poem, he says, "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" (you can read the poem in its entirety here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/guide/179...
Gentner & Wolff describe this phrase as encouraging the reader to, "imagine stretching a butterfly on a rack; the very difficulty of doing so invites the image of one so insubstantial as to be unworthy of torture" (309). In a sense then, it means putting forth tremendously more effort than is required in a particular situation. Do you need to go through the trouble of using something as violent as the wheel (or Catherine) to kill a butterfly? The wheel is much more excessive than necessary.
I hope that helps!
Becky
Library Science Student
Source(s): The Poetry Foundation: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/guide/179... "Metaphor and Knowledge Change" by Dedre Gentner and Philip Wolff (chapter 11 of Cognitive Dynamics: Conceptual Change in Humans and Machines edited by Dietrich & Markman): http://groups.psych.northwestern.edu/gentner/paper... - How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
