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'A
Contemplation upon Flowers'
Beryl
Clarke, Contributor
Once
again we take a break from The
Chrysalids to work on a poem.
In
1592, the wife of the Bishop of London
gave birth to a baby boy. Bishop and
Mrs King named their son Henry. He
attended Westminster School and Christ
Church, Oxford, and at the age of
33, received his Doctorate in Divinity.
In 1642, he became Bishop of Chichester.
The work, to which we now turn our
attention, was written by him. Do
you know the meaning of the word 'contemplate'?
If you do not, please find it, for
we are going to examine a poem called
'A Contemplation Upon Flowers'.
I
love flowers. In fact, I love plants
and get great pleasure from planting
and reaping the produce, but you will
agree with me that there is something
special about flowers. Consider the
many varieties, the different sizes,
shapes, colours and the perfume (scent)
that they give off. Yes, we do have
reasons to stop and admire flowers
or, as the title suggests, to think
deeply about them. Please read the
poem now.
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 embroidered
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
Not
think of such a thing;
Oh,
that I could my bed of
earth
but view
And
smile, and look as
cheerfully
as you:
Oh,
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, Bishop of Chichester
The
opening lines are devoted to admiring
flowers. The speaker says that they
are 'brave' and 'gallant'. Aren't
these unusual words to be used in
describing blooms? Together, these
words convey the ideas of being "able
or ready to face and endure danger
and disgrace or pain; splendid, spectacular,
fine, stately". So what we must
seek to find out is his reasons for
saying these things. In addition,
do notice that the speaker wishes
that he were like the flowers, brave
and gallant and be "as little
vain". He continues in this vein
throughout, finding ways and causes
to praise flowers.
Now
here is what I want you to do:
- Read
the poem through and think about
the following - brave, gallant,
vain, come abroad, harmless show,
beds of earth, birth, embroidered
garments, months and times, ever
spring, winter, truce, bier and
spruce.
- If
you have to look up the meanings
of any, do so.
- Discuss
them (the words above) with your
friends and in your study group,
trying to explain their role in
the poem. In other words, consider,
for example, why the speaker says
that the flowers obey their "months
and times" while he "would
have it ever spring". Is he
expressing the view that while human
beings worry about getting old,
flowers just enjoy whatever period
of existence they get?
- Identify
the things that the speaker likes
about the flowers.
- Discover
the lessons that he wishes to learn
from flowers?
- Put
the final six lines in your own
words.
Some
time ago, I read a few lines that
I will now share with you. They were
written by Lillian Dickenson. I hope
they will give you much food for thought
and help you grow! Until next time,
God bless!
"Life
is a coin. You can spend it any way
you wish, but you can only spend it
once!"
Beryl
Clarke teaches at Glenmuir High School.
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