"A contemplation upon flowers ," by Henry king
A CONTEMPLATION UPON FLOWERS
BRAVE flowers--that I could gallant it like you, And be as little vain! You come abroad, and make a harmless show, And to your beds of earth again. You are not proud: you know your birth: For your embroider'd garments are from earth. You do obey your months and times, but I Would have it ever Spring: My fate would know no Winter, never die, Nor think of such a thing. O that I could my bed of earth but view And smile, and look as cheerfully as you!
O teach me to see Death and not to fear, But rather to take truce! How often have I seen you at a bier, And there look fresh and spruce! You fragrant flowers! then teach me, that my breath Like yours may sweeten and perfume my death.
-Henry King
What we can be understood.
Herny king is in astounding admiration as he learns to appreciate the nature of the flowers. In this poem the poet contrasts human behaviour to one of nature's beauties, flowers . The poet is enlightened at how the flowers undergo the cycle of life by gracing it with such tranquillity. The poets observation puts him in a state of reflection and he identifies his present human attributes such as the fear of death. King wishes to overcome his fear and take the reigns of death which shall enter his life. However it is a clear strugle for him as seeks a way of embracing his fear through the contemplation on flowers. As expressed in my most recent post on some of the most amazing poets, King suffered with a great loss of loved ones which puts into perspective his evident fear of death.
Lets dig a little deeper shall we?
I personally agree with the Poet's contrast between human beings and flowers. I ponder matters such as these quite often. I do believe that most us homo sapiens are egotistical and I think that we often forget that we are not a part of this world forever. I agree that all of us have our fears but I share the same opinion of Mr Henry in that we should indeed be more "gallant" like the flowers who are also living things on earth. Life is full of unknowns; death in itself is an unknown because no one knows when their time is going to come and I think that whenever it knocks on our doors fear should be the furthest thought.
