Preview

A Contemplation Upon Flowers

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
268 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Contemplation Upon Flowers
“A Contemplation upon Flowers “ The persona wishes that he could be as brave as the flowers, they owe their life to the earth. They follow the cycle of life and death. The persona wishes that he could be this way because he is opposite he wants to live forever. However he compliments the flowers he admires them, he uses the word gallant to emphasize his appreciation and his longing to be like them.
Literary devices
Simile
 Stanza 1, line1: The persona is wishing that he could be as brave as the flower.
 Stanza 2, line 14: This is another comparison between the persona and the plant. The persona wishes that he could look death in the face and be cheerful, like the plant.
Irony
It is ironic that the flowers look so fresh and alive when it is facing its very mortality, on the top of a casket. Death is a sad affair, and the flowers are at their best when ushering people back to the earth.
Personification
 The persona is speaking directly to flowers and giving them human qualities, therefore, the whole poem is an example of the use of personification at its best. He even goes as far as to ask the flower to teach him things that will make him be like it. Tone -The tone of the poem is admiration, because the persona literally admires the flowers for its accepting attitude towards death.
Mood
The mood, or atmosphere of the poem is a pensive one. The persona is thinking about death, how he relates to it versus how others relate to
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Gwen Harwood Analysis
    • 6099 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Gwen Harwood Analysis

    In addition, the persona’s experience of maturation is reflected in the growth of the violets and other natural references, further demonstrating the Romantic influence within this poem. Throughout the poem, there is an extended connection between nature and humanity, a connection which once manifested as a Romantic ideal. In the third stanza, set in the past, there is a description of the violets as “spring…

    • 6099 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Explication of the Poem "Living Tree"
    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Explication of the Poem "Living Tree"

    The tone of the “Living Tree” shows the reader exactly how the author feels about the subject matter. In the opening you get a sense of his feeling for life and death. He is quite accepting and almost welcoming of the fact. Line 4 starts with; “I like to think that when I’m gone the chemicals and yes the spirit that was me might be searched out by subtle roots and raised with sap through capillaries into an upright, fragrant trunk”, this fragment displays how he almost welcomes the idea of his passing. The poem is quite positive despite the subject matter, no trace of fear can be heard when he speaks of burying the dead. A reason for this could be that he understands that it is a natural and accepted part of life and shouldn 't be viewed as an object of fear. The comfort that he is feeling is…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Clifton's Poem To My Uterus '
    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Clifton's Poem To My Uterus '

    The tone in this poem is, mournful. This tone has given way to a self-mocking, yet more accepting view. Even in her major crisis, the fertile mind will see the mortal body through.…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How do you respond to the view that, in Songs of Innocence and of Experience love is always presented as pure and natural.
    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How do you respond to the view that, in Songs of Innocence and of Experience love is always presented as pure and natural.

    In My Pretty Rose Tree different manifestations of love are shown as individual plants are personified. The repetition of ‘flower’ instead of the word ‘rose’ in the first stanza acts as a symbol to represent love and experiences and because of the use of a general term instead of the specific rose it can be perceived as the flower depicting love that’s being given to another woman. The speaker is presented with a flower ‘as may never bore’ yet returns it in loyalty, to the rose tree, then looks to ‘tend to her by day and by night’ nevertheless the rose ‘turn[s] away with jealousy’ portraying love with the imagery of experience as the expectations of light romance come forth. For his affection he is returned with ‘thorns’ suggesting the speaker may be willing to pay the price for a continued relationship as the thorns represent the protection he may hold over her from other lovers and therefore he is ‘delighted’ and reckons them as a symbol of love. In addition to this the speaker may find he is compelled to be in delight with the rose despite its thorns, as he has rejected the flower and the pain of the thorns may be infinitely preferable to his fear of the unknown, just as Adam and Eve with the fruit of knowledge, the flower takes the place of the fruit which offers experience yet comes with tempting propositions.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    "My Papa's Waltz" Poem Explication
    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages

    "My Papa's Waltz" Poem Explication

    Speaker's Attitude: The speaker evokes sympathy as they read the poem. What evokes such a tone could possibly be the mood. The mood of this poem is sad and pitiful. Words in the poem give this feeling to the reader. Some would be "battered on one knuckle," "un-frown," and "death." Such a word gives off a vibe of what the mood is therefore resulting in the tone of the speaker.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Carmill A Narrative Fiction
    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Carmill A Narrative Fiction

    After 3 and a half hours of driving from Ottawa, they finally reached Toronto and pulled up to their home. Michael called Laura on the way back to tell her that they will meet at the restaurant at 6:30. Carmilla opened the front door and allowed Laura to walk in first. When Laura walked through the front door, she stopped in the doorway and smiled. She felt strong arms wrap around her middle and a gentle kiss pressed to her pulse point.…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Figurative Language In The Short Story 'Flowers'
    • 188 Words
    • 1 Page

    Figurative Language In The Short Story 'Flowers'

    Out of the three short stories, “Flowers” contained the best description. The use of figurative language is important in descriptive writing because it helps the reader to visualize. In the first paragraph of the text it says “made each day a golden surprise.” The use of this metaphor allows the reader to have a more vivid picture. Therefore, making it a better choices than just saying “made every day good.”…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Sylvia Plaths Preoccupation with Death [Edge & Lady Lazarus]
    • 1363 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Sylvia Plaths Preoccupation with Death [Edge & Lady Lazarus]

    The mood in “Edge” is calm, “Her dead/ Body wears the smile of accomplishment”, this signifies a sense of fulfilment and completion, and a readiness for death as a result. The enjambment used here makes the poem flow and helps create the restful tone. The atmosphere is one of peacefulness, “the sweet, deep throats of the night flower” implying death is serene and tranquil, thus creating a positive depiction of death. The ambience is also rather melancholy and pathos is used to appeal to the audiences emotions, here evoking a sense of pity and sadness - “One at each little/ Pitcher of milk, now empty/ She has folded/ Them back into her body as…

    • 1363 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Back by Henry Green
    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Back by Henry Green

    Roses are a symbol of beauty and romance yet in this excerpt Green utilizes them as a reflection of death. "For, climbing around and up these trees of mourning, was rose after rose, while, here and there, the spray overburdened by the mass of flower..." This is a direct contrast, when one thinks of graveyards roses are not usually in the view. "...he did not wish to be observed. So he no longer watched the roses." Charley, being effected by roses in a harmful event, (the lose of his leg) bears a grudge and feels shameful against them. "...roses gay and bright which, as still as this dark afternoon, stared at whosoever looked, or hung their heads to droop, to grow stained, to die when their turn came." It is as if he given the impression of the roses being as humankind.…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson Diction
    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Emily Dickinson Diction

    There is a multitude of poems written with the theme of death, be it in a positive light or negative. Some poets write poems that depict Death as a spine-chilling inevitable end, others hold respect for this natural occurrence. In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death”, diction and personification is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s cordial friendship with Death.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    1914 poetry
    • 763 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1914 poetry

    By contrast in ‘Death’ the imagery of beauty is moving. Throughout the poem fleeting beauty is portrayed e.g. in the words; washed, sunset, quick, blown, ended, changing. The adjectives from the poem that are listed normally don’t last long giving a sense of brief purity. This poem is deeply moving. In every line there are…

    • 763 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Go Gentle Into That Good Night
    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Go Gentle Into That Good Night

    Tone draws out and deciphers a theme using an attitude, whether that be happy, morose, furious or more. For this poem specifically, the tone colors the message of a boy who doesn’t want his father to die without at least trying to fight death. Tone makes it easy to understand what the author or characters in the poem are feeling; for this poem, the boy is so angry that his father won’t fight, but also so morose and desperate that he can not do anything to help his father live. All in all, the tone painted the message of a boy begging his father to not give up without a…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Body Seeing The Body David Snodgrass Summary
    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Body Seeing The Body David Snodgrass Summary

    The poem discusses the funeral of a woman and how she is presented in her funeral as someone people would be more likely to romanticize than what she actually was, perhaps out of a misguided sign of respect. The other more hidden meaning behind the poem is the author's reaction to the women herself and how she is portrayed in almost a spiteful, angry way because of his anger over her wasting her life in gray dullness.…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Explication Essay: I Sit Beside The Fire And Think
    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Explication Essay: I Sit Beside The Fire And Think

    The tone of a poem has a major affect on how the poem is read and understood. The tone of a poem is based on how the speaker feels about a certain object. An old man who is close to dying is the speaker of the poem, and this is shown in lines 1-2: “I sit beside the fire and think/ of all that I have seen.” The tone of the speaker is depressed and morbid. This poem has a main theme of death so it makes sense that the tone would be depressing also. The tone is morbid because the speaker is talking about his death and the life that he has had. Evidence of this tone is in…

    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    A Contemplation Upon Flowers
    • 1813 Words
    • 8 Pages

    A Contemplation Upon Flowers

    In the poem A Contemplation Upon Flowers by Henry King the comparison of the life of a simple flower is made to the life of a human, in the sense that we both are born, we both live, and we both must die. Majority of people fear death, but the flowers accept death with open arms and a smile. This poem by Henry King praises flowers for not only their humble lifestyles but also for their acceptance of death.…

    • 1813 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics