Double Meaning In Fire-Caught By Langston Hughes

“ Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.” - Rita Dove. Poems are like fingerprints. All poems are completely unique and different, but yet they are all the same. All poems consist of something their writers are passionate about, much like how fingerprints are completely unique, but the entire human race has one. Most poems could also have double meanings. For instance, the poem “ Fire - Caught ” by Langston Hughes could have multiple meanings, like someone giving into temptation, the actual connection of a moth and a fire, or it could be a telling story about someone falling for something too good to be true. In the poem “ Fire - Caught ” it tells the unfortunate story about how a moth gave into temptation. “And then, with wings like a dead desire, She fell, fire-caught, into the flame.”
Even though poems and stories might look like it could have a double meaning, sometimes they do not. This poem could simply be about the fact that a moth was mesmerized by this flame and died because of it.
“The gold moth did not love him
So, gorgeous, she flew away.
But the gray moth circled the flame
Until the break of day.
And then, with wings like a dead desire,
She fell, fire-caught, into the flame.”
By not following the example of the moth before her, she unknowingly fell into the trap of the fire. The behavior exhibited by the moth is called transverse orientation. Some insects fly at a constant angle to a light source, like the moon. This is why man-made, or artificial light, can confuse a moth. In conclusion “ Fire - Caught ” by Langston Hughes is simply beautiful. To some people it can mean something completely different to someone else. Others have fallen in love with the deep meaning with this poem, and are in awe of the many ways this poem can be taken. It just goes to show a person that even though it may seem too good to be true, it may be