Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?

"Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" is a quotation from Alexander Pope's "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" of January 1735.

It alludes to "breaking on the wheel", a form of torture in which victims had their long bones broken by an iron bar while tied to a Catherine wheel.[1] The quotation is used to suggest someone is "[employing] superabundant effort in the accomplishment of a small matter".[2]

The quotation is sometimes misquoted with "on" in place of "upon".

Pope's satire

The line "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" forms line 308 of the "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" in which Alexander Pope responded to his physician's word of caution about making satirical attacks on powerful people by sending him a selection of such attacks. It appears in a section on the courtier John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, who was close to Queen Caroline and was one of Pope's bitterest enemies. The section opens as follows:[3]

Let Sporus tremble –"What? that thing of silk,
Sporus, that mere white curd of ass's milk?
Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel?
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings,
This painted child of dirt that stinks and stings;
Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys,
Yet wit ne'er tastes, and beauty ne'er enjoys,

"Sporus", a male slave favoured by Emperor Nero,[3] was, according to Suetonius, castrated by the emperor, and subsequently married.[4] Pope here refers to accusations made in Pulteney's Proper reply to a late scurrilous libel of 1731 which led to Hervey challenging Pulteney to a duel. Hervey's decade-long clandestine affair with Stephen Fox would eventually contribute to his downfall.[5][6] As first published the verse referred to Paris, but was changed to Sporus when republished a few months later.[7]

"What? that thing of silk" uses a metaphor of a silkworm spinning that Pope had already used in The Dunciad to refer to bad poets. "Ass's milk" was at that time a common tonic, and was part of a diet adopted by Hervey. "This painted child" comments on make-up such as rouge used by the handsome Hervey.[3]

Another graphic instance of the usage can be found in An Introduction to Harmony by William Shield (1800), wherein he writes: "Having brought this Introduction to Harmony before that awful Tribunal, the Public, without first submitting it to the inspection of a judicious friend, I shall doubtless merit severe correction from the Critic; but as my attempt has been rather to write a useful Book, than a learned Work, I trust that he will not break a Butterfly upon the wheel for not being able to soar with the wings of an Eagle."[8]

Modern use

William Rees-Mogg, as editor of The Times newspaper, used the "on a wheel" version of the quotation as the heading (set in capital letters) for an editorial on 1 July 1967 about the "Redlands" court case, which had resulted in prison sentences for Rolling Stones members Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.[9]

The philosopher Mary Midgley used a variation on the phrase in an article in the journal Philosophy written to counter a review praising The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, where she cuttingly said that she had "not attended to Dawkins, thinking it unnecessary to break a butterfly upon a wheel."[10]

The British rock band The Mission enjoyed a no. 12 hit in the UK Top 40 (no. 1 in South Africa) in January 1990 with a song entitled "Butterfly on a Wheel".[11]

The British rock band The Cult ask the question, "Who Would Break A Butterfly on a Wheel?" in their song Soul Asylum off the 1989 Album, Sonic Temple.

A film titled Butterfly on a Wheel was released in 2007. In the US the title of the movie was changed to Shattered.[12]

The British rock band Coldplay used the lyric “The wheel breaks the butterfly” in the 2011 song ‘Paradise’.[13]

The British rock band Oasis used the lyric “Catch the wheel that breaks the butterfly” in the 2008 song ‘Falling Down’.[14]

'Break a Butterfly on a Wheel' is the penultimate track on Similarities, a compilation album by Scottish rock trio Biffy Clyro.[15]

References

1. "Expressions& Sayings (W)". Scorpio Tales. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
2. Brewer, E. C. (1 June 2001). Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Wordsworth Editions Ltd. p. 173. ISBN 1840223103.
3. Representative Poetry Online – Alexander Pope: Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot: complete poem and commentary
4. Ancient History Sourcebook: Suetonius: De Vita Caesarum—Nero, c. 110 C.E.
5. AMPHIBIOUS THING, The Life of Lord Hervey, Lucy Moore – Author, Penguin Books. Line 326 of Pope's poem: "Amphibious thing! that acting either part,"] Archived 11 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
6. "Gay Love Letters through the Centuries: Town and Country". rictornorton.co.uk.
7. "Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: Pope's Caricature of Lord Hervey". rictornorton.co.uk.
8. http://216.129.110.22/files/imglnks/usimg/7/77/IMSLP93456-PMLP192233-Shield_-_Introduction_to_Harmony__1800.pdf
9. Booth, Stanley (2000). The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones (2nd edition). A Capella Books. pp. 271–278. ISBN 1-55652-400-5.
10. Gene Juggling Mary Midgley, 1979. Philosophy 54, no. 210, pp. 439–458.
11. Roach, Martin; Perry, Neil (1993). The Mission : names are for tombstones, baby. London: Independent Music Press. p. 272. ISBN 1-897-78301-9.
12. IMDB: Butterfly on a Wheel
15. "Similarities Digital Album". store.biffyclyro.com. Retrieved 11 February 2019.