The Beauty of Insects:
Seeing Art in the
Entomological World

On the Grasshopper and Cricket

"The poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead
In summer luxury,—he has never done
With his delights; for when tired out with fun
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.

The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
On a lone winter evening, when the frost
Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,
And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills."

Extract from the poem 'On the Grasshopper and Cricket' from Minibeasts: A Book of Poems, by John Keats (ed. Robert Fisher), 1992 (Alderson (Brian) Collection, Ald. Coll. FIS MIN)

"He must have thought I was a flower,

Cause he stuck himself in me."

Extract from the poem 'The Honey Bee', from Good Company Poetry: A Collection of Verse in Five Volumes (v.1), by William J Moughton, 1928 (Butler (Joan) Collection, 821.08 MOU)

The Side-Stepping Pig

"I don’t think you would be very interested in our conversation,’ said the dragonfly… We are talking about colours and beauty, and you must admit pigs aren’t very colourful or beautiful…’

The pig’s pride was hurt. It shook its head sadly. ‘I’m afraid neither of you understand pigs very well.’ And it say down beneath the thorn bush. ‘I’m going to stay here whether you like it or not,’ it said…

‘My left wing reflects the sunset very nicely,’ boasted the dragonfly.

‘And I’m at my best in midsummer,’ said the flower.

They were certainly very vain. They talked on and on about colour. About pink and blue and green and crimson and orange and yellow and mauve and brown and silver. The colours rolled poshly off their tongues and the pig listened."

Extract from the fable 'The Side-Stepping Pig', from The Elephant and the Flower - Almost Fables, by Brian Patten, 1981 (Alderson (Brian) Collection, Ald. Coll. MCF EXP)

"I have fought a grizzly bear,

Tracked a cobra to its lair,

Killed a crocodile who dared to cross my path;

But the thing I really dread

When I’ve just got out of bed

Is to find that there’s a spider in the bath."

Extract from the poem 'Granny Spider' from Mini Beasties, by Micheal Rosen, 1993 (Book Trust Collection, F PUF MIN)

Of the Beetle and the Eagle

"The beetle had despised the eagle for some time when he began to think of how to get revenge at any cost. He looked everywhere to find the eagle’s nest and destroyed the eggs upon finding them…"

"Zeus commanded the eagle to lay his new eggs in Zeus’ lap in order to keep them safe for the foreseeable future.

‘However, even at the edge of Olympus (the home of the Gods) the eggs were not safe, as the beetle successfully crawled to the top of the mountain and found himself crawling underneath the eggs. When Zeus saw the eggs move, he was so rattled that he threw the eggs from his lap, which fell down to earth."

Extract from the fable 'Of the Beetle and the Eagle' from De Scarabeo & Aquila’, Aesopi Phrygis Fabulæ: Iam Recenter Ex Collatione Optimorum Exemplarium Emendatiùs Excusae: Unà Cum Nonnullis Variorum Autorum Fabullis Adjectis: et Indice Correctiori Praefixo, by Aesop, 1667 (Bainbrigg Collection, Bai 1667 AES)