Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A FLOWER IN A LETTER, by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My lonely chamber next the sea Last Line: A beauty worthier singing! Subject(s): Flowers | ||||||||
I MY lonely chamber next the sea Is full of many flowers set free By summer's earliest duty: Dear friends upon the garden-walk Might stop amid their fondest talk To pull the least in beauty. II A thousand flowers, each seeming one That learnt by gazing on the sun To counterfeit his shining; Within whose leaves the holy dew That falls from heaven has won anew A glory, in declining. III Red roses, used to praises long, Contented with the poet's song, The nightingale's being over; And lilies white, prepared to touch The whitest thought, nor soil it much, Of dreamer turned to lover. IV Deep violets, you liken to The kindest eyes that look on you, Without a thought disloyal; And cactuses a queen might don If weary of a golden crown, And still appear as royal. V Pansies for ladies all, -- I wis That none who wear such brooches miss A jewel in the mirror; And tulips, children love to stretch Their fingers down, to feel in each Its beauty's secret nearer. VI Love's language may be talked with these; To work out choicest sentences, No blossoms can be meeter; And, such being used in Eastern bowers, Young maids may wonder if the flowers Or meanings be the sweeter. VII And such being strewn before a bride, Her little foot may turn aside, Their longer bloom decreeing, Unless some voice's whispered sound Should make her gaze upon the ground Too earnestly for seeing. VIII And such being scattered on a grave, Whoever mourneth there may have A type which seemeth worthy Of that fair body hid below, Which bloomed on earth a time ago, Then perished as the earthy. IX And such being wreathed for worldly feast, Across the brimming cup some guest Their rainbow colors viewing May feel them, with a silent start, The covenant, his childish heart With nature made, renewing. X No flowers our gardened England hath To match with these, in bloom and breath, Which from the world are hiding In sunny Devon moist with rills, -- A nunnery of cloistered hills, The elements presiding. XI By Loddon's stream the flowers are fair That meet one gifted lady's care With prodigal rewarding: (For Beauty is too used to run To Mitford's bower -- to want the sun To light her through the garden). XII But here, all summers are comprised, The nightly frosts shrink exorcised Before the priestly moonshine; And every wind with stoled feet In wandering down the alleys sweet Steps lightly on the sunshine. XIII And (having promised Harpocrate Among the nodding roses that No harm shall touch his daughters) Gives quite away the rushing sound He dares not use upon such ground To ever-trickling waters. XIV Yet, sun and wind! what can ye do But make the leaves more brightly show In posies newly gathered? I look away from all your best To one poor flower unlike the rest, A little flower half-withered. XV I do not think it ever was A pretty flower, -- to make the grass Look greener where it reddened; And now it seems ashamed to be Alone, in all this company, Of aspect shrunk and saddened. XVI A chamber-window was the spot It grew in, from a garden-pot, Among the city shadows: If any, tending it, might seem To smile, 't was only in a dream Of nature in the meadows. XVII How coldly on its head did fall The sunshine, from the city wall In pale refraction driven! How sadly plashed upon its leaves The raindrops, losing in the eaves The first sweet news of heaven! XVIII And those who planted, gathered it In gamesome or in loving fit, And sent it as a token Of what their city pleasures be, -- For one, in Devon by the sea And garden blooms, to look on. XIX But SHE for whom the jest was meant With a grave passion innocent Receiving what was given, -- Oh, if her face she turned then, Let none say 't was to gaze again Upon the flowers of Devon! XX Because, whatever virtue dwells In genial skies, warm oracles For gardens brightly springing, -- The flower which grew beneath your eyes, Beloved friends, to mine supplies A beauty worthier singing! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THEY SAW THE PROBLEM by MARK JARMAN SHAKE THE SUPERFLUX! by DAVID LEHMAN THE M??TIER OF BLOSSOMING by DENISE LEVERTOV TANKA DIARY (6) by HARRYETTE MULLEN VARIATIONS: 17 by CONRAD AIKEN FORCED BLOOM by STEPHEN ELLIOTT DUNN A CHILD'S THOUGHT OF GOD by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |
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