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Point
The speaker now comes to a point that seems very important to
him as he continues to contrast the flowers' attitude, this time to
death. For him, the flowers follow life's cyclical pattern cheerfully,
without any regret, while he yearns to remain youthful, never to
grow old, never to die, and not even to contemplate the fact that
death exists.
And, so he next appeals for a lesson.
In the last four lines, our speaker brings the flowers which he
respects face to face with death, which he fears. The influence of
the flowers is great, for here he sees them as displaying no fear.
They look good; they brighten up the funereal atmosphere and
make the place smell fragrant. We, Jamaicans would say, 'sweet'.
The flowers are dying, but they do fulfil their purpose anyway,
and this is the attitude the speaker wants to achieve. He wants to
be able to approach death as if he were approaching a friend,
sweetly and with confidence.
ANOTHER LOOK
LITERAL MEANING
The persona wishes that he could be as brave as the flowers, who
know who they owe their life to - the earth. They know their place
and obey the order, or cycle, of life and death. The persona
wishes that he could be this way because he is the opposite, he
wants to live forever. The persona wants the flowers to teach him
NOT to fear death, but to accept it.
LITERARY DEVICES
1. SIMILE
CONTRAST
A contrast in this poem is the persona's fear of death, versus the
flowers' acceptance of it.
THEME
Death is the overwhelming theme in this poem. The persona
admires the way in which the flowers deal with death and wish to
emulate it. Death is a very scary prospect for the persona.
5. Why does the poet wish his life would be always spring?