These poems celebrate the beauty and resilience of the natural world. They paint vivid portraits of flowers, trees, and green landscapes, capturing the harmony between nature and humanity.
Poets use plant imagery as symbols of growth, renewal, and interconnectedness, drawing parallels to the cycles of life and the human spirit. These poems become odes to the earth, reminding us of plants’ profound impact on our lives and the importance of nurturing and preserving our environment.
‘Plants’ by Olive Senior is a unique free verse poem that describes the deceptiveness of plants. It uses irony and humor to suggest that plants are trying to take over the world.
The poem's central subject is plants, and Olive Senior portrays them as complex and strategic organisms. By shedding light on their cunning and deceptive nature, the poem invites readers to reconsider their perception of plants and recognize the intelligence behind their survival mechanisms.
‘The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants’ by Emily Dickinson personifies the mushroom and nature while depicting its mysterious and fleeting life.
This poem creatively refers to the plant kingdom, focusing on the maverick mushroom, calling it 'the Elf of Plants' to emphasize the mischievousness that sets it apart from the other plants. It shows that the mushroom does not follow the usual growth patterns as if it were 'an Apostate,' defying the rules of nature's cycle; its lifecycle is unpredictable, and it appears suddenly out of nowhere and swiftly vanishes while disturbing others like the grass. Mushrooms are, in fact, fungi, and this poem deftly personifies them as roguish plants, capturing their uniqueness.
‘Wildflowers and Hothouse-plants’ by Henrik Ibsen begins as a defense of an individual’s attraction to another, revealing in the process the beauty standards imposed on women and the splendor of what is arbitrarily deemed ordinary.
Ibsen uses a number of different images and metaphors to describe the speaker's attraction to "average beauties." Drawing heavily on everything from the physicality of the plants to their fragrance. In doing so, he reveals that the speaker clearly doesn't just see these women as "average" but rather magnificent in their own way.
‘The Forest Reverie’ reveals how the memory of beauteous rebirth can comfort the heart when life appears hopeless and inert.
Plants are a powerful symbol of life and recovery in the poem. The first stanza is filled with descriptions of thriving flora, from “wild rose pale” to “queenly lily,” their sensory beauty a symbol of nature’s resilience. In flourishing they bring life to the landscape and serve as a timeless life-affirming reminder. The gourd, grape, and rare flowers all stand as testaments that rejuvenation always follows devastation.
‘The Blossom’ by William Blake illustrates that even the natural world is imbued with a range of emotions, as is seen through the robin, the blossom, and the sparrow.
Plants, specifically the "happy blossom" and "leaves so green," function as important parts of this piece. They are sentient observers, almost companions to the birds. This subtly suggests a kinship among different forms of life.
‘Australia 1970’ by Judith Wright speaks on the changing landscape of Australia in the 1970s. It promotes a fierce, wild, and dangerous version of Australia like the animals that have always lived within its boundaries.
In the third stanza of the poem, Wright talks about the ironwood. She describes how hard it is that it even bends the dozer blade. She also talks about how her country's golden soil is ebbing just like the ironwood.
‘Stealing Peas’ explores the bittersweetness of a memory that ultimately reveals the inherent insecurities and vulnerabilities of childhood.
Plants are not just background in this poem; they become an integral part of the experience. The pea plants ‘catching the tendrils of my hair’ and the act of ‘slitting the skins with bitten nails’ make the natural world feel alive and engaging. The interaction with the plants mirrors the emotional tension between youthful playfulness and deeper self-discovery.
‘John Barleycorn: A Ballad’ by Robert Burns unfolds nature’s sacrifice in vivid verses, celebrating whisky’s birth and Scotland’s cultural heritage.
The poem intricately explores the topic of plants, focusing on the life cycle of barley. From the initial sowing and growth to the symbolic sacrifice, the narrative personifies barley as John Barleycorn. This anthropomorphism transforms the ordinary agricultural process into a rich allegory, symbolizing the interconnectedness between humanity and the natural world, particularly the cultivation of plants.
‘Grasses wilt’ by Yamaguchi Seishi is a unique poem that’s written in the form of a haiku. It describes two contrasting, yet related, images.
Plants, particularly the grasses in this poem, serve as symbolic representations of life and its impermanence. The wilting grasses embody the cycle of growth, decay, and renewal that characterizes both nature and human existence. Through the image of plants, Seishi draws attention to how important it is to find beauty and meaning within fleeting moments.
‘Strings in the earth and air’ by James Joyce is a romantic poem that imagines love as a youth playing sweetly enchanting music.
A topic mentioned in James Joyce's poem comes in the form of the many types of plants that appear in the poem. Its setting is one of pastoral and verdant beauty, where "willows meet," and love's personification wanders with "pale flowers" and "dark leaves" in their hair. This lush presentation of plants adds to the poem's idyllic atmosphere.
‘Song of the Chattahoochee’ is a 19th century American poem that takes the perspective of the Chattahoochee river as it flows from northern Georgia to the sea.
Plants are integral to the poem, with the river interacting with various species that attempt to sway its course. These interactions are not only descriptive but also serve as metaphors for the temptations and distractions in life, making this topic well-represented and meaningful.
‘Wild Lemons’ by David Malouf is a powerful poem about the passage of time and how some things remain the same.
The wild lemons in this poem are a central image. This plant is a major symbol in the poem, serving as a touchstone to previous generations and representing all the ways that the world does not change over time.
By utilizing different types of flowers, Lamb’s ‘Envy’ showcases that envy is an unnecessary quality to possess.
While plants are certainly present in the poem, they mainly serve as a support for the deeper message. The rose tree, lilies, violets, and others create a world where Lamb can explain her point. The poem is not really about plants themselves but about what they represent. They help bring the message to life, but they do not hold the focus. This makes the tag still fitting but less central than the others listed above.
‘A Murmur in the Trees— to note’ by Emily Dickinson is a poem about nature’s magic. It includes mysterious images of fairy men, glowing lights in the woods, and the murmuring of trees.
Save for the trees and the grass, there are no plants mentioned explicitly in the poem even though there likely were flowers growing in close proximity to the trees. Like nature more broadly, Dickinson offers a degree of deference towards plants as she believes they protect the magical elements of the world.
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