Poetry & Analysis
Poems About Flowers and Friendship
Nature PoemsThe Tuft of Flowers
I went to turn the grass once after one
Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.
The dew was gone that made his blade so keen
Before I came to view the levelled scene.
I looked for him behind an isle of trees;
I listened for his whetstone on the breeze.
But he had gone his way, the grass all mown,
And I must be, as he had been,—alone,
‘As all must be,’ I said within my heart,
‘Whether they work together or apart.’
But as I said it, swift there passed me by
On noiseless wing a ’wildered butterfly,
Seeking with memories grown dim o’er night
Some resting flower of yesterday’s delight.
And once I marked his flight go round and round,
As where some flower lay withering on the ground.
And then he flew as far as eye could see,
And then on tremulous wing came back to me.
I thought of questions that have no reply,
And would have turned to toss the grass to dry;
But he turned first, and led my eye to look
At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook,
A leaping tongue of bloom the scythe had spared
Beside a reedy brook the scythe had bared.
I left my place to know them by their name,
Finding them butterfly weed when I came.
The mower in the dew had loved them thus,
By leaving them to flourish, not for us,
Nor yet to draw one thought of ours to him.
But from sheer morning gladness at the brim.
The butterfly and I had lit upon,
Nevertheless, a message from the dawn,
That made me hear the wakening birds around,
And hear his long scythe whispering to the ground,
And feel a spirit kindred to my own;
So that henceforth I worked no more alone;
But glad with him, I worked as with his aid,
And weary, sought at noon with him the shade;
And dreaming, as it were, held brotherly speech
With one whose thought I had not hoped to reach.
‘Men work together.’ I told him from the heart,
‘Whether they work together or apart.’
Overview Short Summary
A worker feels alone until a butterfly leads him to flowers deliberately spared by an earlier mower. That small act creates a sense of friendship between two people who never meet.
Significance Why the Flowers Matter
The flowers prove that the earlier mower noticed beauty and chose not to destroy it. They become a quiet message of shared feeling and transform solitary work into companionship.
The Daisy Follows Soft the Sun
The daisy follows soft the sun,
And when his golden walk is done,
Sits shyly at his feet.
He, waking, finds the flower near.
“Wherefore, marauder, art thou here?”
“Because, sir, love is sweet!”
We are the flower, Thou the sun!
Forgive us, if as days decline,
We nearer steal to Thee,—
Enamoured of the parting west,
The peace, the flight, the amethyst,
Night’s possibility!
Overview Short Summary
A daisy follows the sun until evening and explains its closeness as an act of love. The second stanza expands the scene into a relationship between flowers, sunset, and approaching night.
Craft Literary Devices
Personification turns the daisy and sun into shy lovers. Golden and amethyst color imagery gives the sunset an emotional warmth.
To a Daisy
Slight as thou art, thou art enough to hide,
Like all created things, secrets from me,
And stand a barrier to eternity.
And I, how can I praise thee well and wide
From where I dwell—upon the hither side?
Thou little veil for so great mystery,
When shall I penetrate all things and thee,
And then look back? For this I must abide,
Till thou shalt grow and fold and be unfurled
Literally between me and the world.
Then shall I drink from in beneath a spring,
And from a poet’s side shall read his book.
O daisy mine, what will it be to look
From God’s side even of such a simple thing?
Overview Short Summary
A small daisy makes the speaker aware of how little she understands about creation. She imagines a future perspective from which even this ordinary flower might reveal profound truth.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Mystery: A simple natural object contains knowledge beyond human perception.
- Faith: The final question imagines seeing creation from a divine perspective.
- Humility: The speaker admits the limits of her present understanding.
To Blossoms
Fair pledges of a fruitful tree,
Why do ye fall so fast?
Your date is not so past,
But you may stay yet here awhile
To blush and gently smile,
And go at last.
What, were ye born to be
An hour or half’s delight,
And so to bid good-night?
‘Twas pity Nature brought ye forth
Merely to show your worth,
And lose you quite.
But you are lovely leaves, where we
May read how soon things have
Their end, though ne’er so brave:
And after they have shown their pride
Like you, awhile, they glide
Into the grave.
Overview Short Summary
The speaker asks why beautiful blossoms fall so quickly. Their brief appearance becomes a lesson about how even the brightest forms of life move toward an ending.
Significance Why the Poem Matters
The poem does not deny loss, but it also does not treat brief beauty as meaningless. The blossoms have value even though they cannot remain.
To Daffodils
Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attained his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the even-song;
And, having prayed together, we
Will go with you along.
We have short time to stay, as you,
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you, or anything.
We die
As your hours do, and dry
Away,
Like to the summer’s rain;
Or as the pearls of morning’s dew,
Ne’er to be found again.
Overview Short Summary
The speaker mourns daffodils that disappear before the day has fully developed. He recognizes that human beings also move quickly from growth toward decay.
Interpretation Comparison and Meaning
The short-lived daffodil becomes a mirror for human life. Morning, spring, rain, and dew all suggest beautiful experiences that cannot be held.
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