Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PLANNING THE GARDEN, by AMY LOWELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Bring pencils, fine pointed Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening | ||||||||
Bring pencils, fine pointed, For our writing must be infinitesimal; And bring sheets of paper To spread before us. Now draw the plan of our garden beds, And outline the borders and the paths Correctly. We will scatter little words Upon the paper, Like seeds about to be planted; We will fill all the whiteness With little words, So that the brown earth Shall never show between our flowers; Instead, there will be petals and greenness From April till November. These narrow lines Are rose-drifted thrift, Edging the paths. And here I plant nodding columbines, With tree-tall wistarias behind them, Each stem umbrella'd in its purple fringe. Winged sweet-peas shall flutter next to pansies All down the sunny centre. Foxglove spears, Thrust back against the swaying lilac leaves, Will bloom and fade before the China asters Smear their crude colours over Autumn hazes. These double paths dividing make an angle For bushes, Bleeding hearts, I think, Their flowers jigging Like little ladies, Satined, hoop-skirted, Ready for a ball. The round black circles Mean striped and flaunting tulips, The clustered trumpets of yellow jonquils, And the sharp blue of hyacinths and squills. These specks like dotted grain Are coreopsis, bright as bandanas, And ice-blue heliotrope with its sticky leaves, And mignonette Whose sober-coloured cones of bloom Scent quiet mornings. And poppies! Poppies! Poppies! The hatchings shall all mean a tide of poppies, Crinkled and frail and flowing in the breeze Wait just a moment, Here's an empty space. Now plant me lilies-of-the-valley-- This pear-tree over them will keep them cool-- We'll have a lot of them With white bells jingling. The steps Shall be all soft with stone-crop; And at the top I'll make an arch of roses, Crimson, Bee-enticing. There, it is done; Seal up the paper. Let us go to bed and dream of flowers. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NOVEMBER GARDEN: AN ELEGY by ANDREW HUDGINS AN ENGLISH GARDEN IN AUSTRIA (SEEN AFTER DER ROSENKAVALIER) by RANDALL JARRELL ACROSS THE BROWN RIVER by GALWAY KINNELL A DESERTED GARDEN by GEORGE LAWRENCE ANDREWS NOT THE SWEET CICELY OF GERARDES HERBALL by MARGARET AVISON |
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