The following version of this essay was used to create this guide: Woolf, Virginia. "The Death of the Moth." The Death of the Moth and other Essays. Harcourt Brace, 1974.

Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the paragraph number from which the quotation is taken.

"The Death of the Moth" is an essay by English author Virginia Woolf. Woolf is best known for her novels Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse, as well as her essay A Room of One's Own. Woolf is credited as a prominent member of the modernist literary movement and one of the earliest writers to make use of the stream of consciousness writing style. Her work is concerned often with the lives of women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and her novels frequently explore the psychologies of female protagonists navigating their social and personal worlds. Most scholars agree that Woolf suffered from mental illness and severe depression over the course of her life. She died by suicide in 1941. "The Death of the Moth" was published in a collection with other essays one year after Woolf's death.

The essay begins with the author explaining the difference between "night moths" and "day moths." She says that "moths that fly by day are not properly to be called moths" because they do not evoke the same feelings of nighttime for whomever observes them (1). She compares day-time moths to butterflies and night-time moths before announcing that she was, one day, staring at a day-time moth on her window. Outside, the farmland was buzzing with ploughs and birds cawing.

As the author continues to watch the moth. She notices that it simply moves from one side of the window pane to the other. She experiences both awe and pity as she watches the moth's movements. Eventually, she forgets about the moth, but later on realizes it is still on the window. This time, the moth is trying to move but cannot, and the author attempts to help by extending a pencil for it. She realizes, though, that the moth is dying, and withdraws the pencil.

The author watches the moth continue to struggle and stiffen. She thinks that it is useless to try to intervene. Soon, the moth goes completely still, and the author knows that it has died. She explains that the moth looks "decently and uncomplainingly composed" in death (3).