These colorful flowers are native to Northern Europe, where they have been cultivated for centuries.Several characteristics distinguish daffodils. The first is the flowers, which have a trumpet-shaped central portion surrounded by a halo of petals and a delicate aroma. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-daffodils.htm)
FAIR daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attain'd his noon.
Stay, stay
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the evensong;
And, having pray'd together, we
Will go with you along.
We have short time to stay, as you,
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you, or anything.
We die
As your hours do, and dry
Away
Like to the summer's rain;
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.
4 comentarios:
Daffodils make both, a beautiful scenery to be contemplated in england´s countryside as well as a rich source of inspiration to many writers and poets. They blum in early April an the last for a short period of time. In this poem Herrick presents a truly emotive paralelism between the flowers´short life and human beings, setting then the piece of writing theme: the passing of time and people´s short life. This theme is wonderfully achieved by the use of many literary devices. To begin with, the addressing of daffodils in the first verse "Fair daffodils..." sets the tone of the poem, well acomplished by using personification... (will you have a go people? come on! who would like to continue?)
We find in this poem a sad and melancholic atmosphere related to the idea that beauty as well as life do not last forever. The author asks the daffodils to stay, it is like a prayer as he repeats this meaningful verb twice: "stay, stay".The idea of the passing of time is described in the entire cycle of life: at the very begining the poet introduces the statement that daffodils are beautiful, as youth, as life, but that beauty does not last for so long, it decays, no matter what, and finally death aproaches. The simile the author states, makes us understand this relation between nature, men, and death: "We have short time to stay, as you, we have as short as spring".
I agree at your statements July, and also I think that this poem again makes us reflect upon death again (sorry about it!) but from a new innovative perspective. At the very beginning Herrick addresess Daffodils as if they were human beings, “praying” as you say, to them, so that they stay. The analogy can help us discover the connection made between the flowers´ short lives and ours. It is said in lines 3 and 4 that not even the sun has reached the middle of the sky (noon, middle of the day) they –daffodils- are already gone. At this point we can again find devices employed in building beauty in the poem itself and at the same time the building of an idea: the sun rising and getting to its brightest point in heaven at midday, serves both as a vivid image expressed through language and to convey the idea of time being very short. The images concerning movement and time are constant and recurrent: the “hasting day” meaning the swift day, the day that goes away at a high speed – here day becomes a symbol for life: it is life that haste – or the use of the verb “run”, “go”, or the adjective “quick” in clear contraposition to the author´s plead: “Stay, Stay”. The idea of the passing of time is also wonderfully brought by a relegious element in the poem: the “evensong”. Let us explain it a bit: the evensong, or evening song is a relegious service at church which, in short, is the last service of the day (late afternoon when evening is starting). In lines 5-8 the author pleads the daffodils (shall we say he pleeds God to let us live longer?) to stay much beyond midday (as in the previous lines) until night begins: night bears as a symbol the evensong. Of course there is much to continue saying about the rest of the work. Will you continue? Please everything you say is important here.
The use of different techniques are used in this poem in order to express the author feelings and emotions. One of them is rhythm, composed by short words and lines. This shortness contributes to the quick rhythm of the poem which in fact represents the brevity of life. To support this idea of shortness, both stanzas have the same structure, the same number of syllables. The lines in stanza one have the same number of syllables as their congruent lines in stanza two. Other technique developed troughout the poem is symbolism, Herrick uses the daffodil´s short life to symbolize how short human life is. Other importan thing that may call our attention is the repetition of two pronouns: YOU and WE. The author uses YOU when referring to the daffodils, and WE when referring to us, man kind, and the close relation regarding comparison between they both.
I think that maybe Herrick wanted us, readers, to be aware of the importance of life in order to appreciate it and do all we can in order to achieve the things we want while we are alive so as not to let our dreams faded in the oblivion. He himself had a sad experience in his life as his father commited suicide when he was a little boy. No one knows the day and the hour, but when life is gone, we cannot bring it back, so we have to learn how to appretiate it.
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