Ivan Ivanov Ms.

Hitzeman AP Lit, 2nd November 8th, 2011 Poetry Casebook: Difficulty Paper In Mary Coleridge's poem The Poison Flower, the narrator speaks of a flower persistent to kill all that grows beside it. The poem is clear and direct; written in chronological order, neither syntax nor diction give reason to fret. What stymied my understanding then, had to do with the poem's apparent simplicity. The more I read, the more I distressed. Oft, when I read, an image is painted in my mind line by line. On first read, I came away from The Poison Flower with a distinct image of a gardener tending to his garden which had fallen ill in the presence of a flower dubbed the fiery foe. In clear order, there is a flower reigning havoc upon the garden; then the gardener rids of it; then the garden flourishes. This is clear. Then comes the final line; But I rejoice no longer, walking there. Asking myself why?, I read again. More confusion. Why does the sun evoke a chilling breath from the flower? How could this breath bring about a dull disgrace? Why do the flowers seek the fiery foe's face? How could it even have one? I was distraught over being stumped by a poem which at first read seemed oh-so-clear. At that point, the poem's simplicity itself proved to be my difficulty. The author provides no emphasis on the importance of the obscure details of the fiery foe, or the gardeners reaction to having rid of the poison in his garden. From this point on, I set out to seek a meaning that would make sense of the not-so-obvious confusion within the poem. The single clear detail whose meaning was certain was that the flower's presence diminished the health of the surrounding growths. Thus my next point of interest was how the poison of this flower acted. The author states that When the sun shone, the poison flower breathed cold, spreading a chill and disgrace. Taken literally, the flowers are driven to their deaths by shame. Impossible. At this point I

thought of the circumstance within which all of this is occurring. It is a garden. The gardener takes pride in it; and watching it being destroyed proves to be difficult to endure. But then why the despair over having rid of it (the same question that lead to this analysis in the first place)? Then it occurred to me. A gardener takes pride in his garden (which is why it being destroyed upsets him in the first place). The greatest factor contributing to this pride is the garden's beauty. Applying this concept of pride to the manner in which the poison flower kills offers an astounding discovery. What if the roses and lilies never actually languished and grew old? What if they merely died in the gardeners eyes? Given this new thought, disgrace is indeed a morbid end to a gardeners garden. As the sun shines, it illuminates the poison flower. As this occurs, disgrace spreads throughout the surroundings. The roses and lilies grow old; but not physically. Their beauty does. And as their beauty withers, the gardener grows ashamed of their image. Why? Because the fiery foe is magnificent. It's own beauty spreads like poison throughout, belittling the puny prettiness of the roses and lilies. How could the gardener take pride in his garden then; if such a great majority of it is rendered hideous in comparison to the single foe. In this new light, I realized the poem is far from as I had earlier said clear and direct. I was completely mislead to believe the literal meaning of the poem. On first read, I was perplexed at the thought why saving his garden upset the gardener; or how the fiery foe emanated a deadly disgrace. Tearing myself from the literal, I found that is was in fact the poison flower's astounding beauty which destroyed the garden. In it's presence, nothing could compare. It stood out, putting all else to shame. In the gardener's eyes, the garden's beauty withered off and died. I am not so oblivious as to claim this to be the meaning. Far from it. Perrine's words slammed me into an impermeable wall. Still, I do not know what was meant by his face, or how the fiery foe sucked up the dew and breathed cold. But I am contempt with understanding that the gardener regrets removing killing foe which had cast a shadow of disgrace on all else he found pride in because in doing so he removed the single unique stem.

The Poison Flower by Mary Coleridge The poison flower that in my garden grew Killed all the other flowers beside. They withered off and died, Because their fiery foe sucked up the dew. When the sun shone, the poison flower breathed cold And spread a chilly mist of dull disgrace. They could not see his face, Roses and lilies languished and grew old. Wherefore I tore that flower up by the root, And flung it on the rubbish heap to fade Amid the havoc that itself had made. I did not leave one shoot. Fair is my garden as it once was fair. Lilies and roses reign. They drink the dew; they see the sun again; But I rejoice no longer, walking there.