Shelly’s Sensitive Plant

The first thing that is immediately noticeable about the poem is the AABB rhyme scheme which demands attention through it nearly perfect consistency. The constancy of the beat suggests to me a sense of order and consistency to the natural world. It also gives the poem a constant step, in that all the line ends are immediately noticeable due to the rhyme. I believe this is meant to suggest the progression of time and its constancy which plays a larger role later in the poem. The Mimosa Pudica is a plant that can feel, both literally as it can close up after being touched and in its construction in the poem in its preoccupation with the care taker. When the AABB rhyme scheme carries us to the inevitable death of the care taker, the value of the plant is beautiful in its mourning for its care taker. From what I could glean this poem is suggesting the value of feeling and thought over aesthetic beauty. That said I also think there is a discussion to be had about time and death within the poem that I would like to flesh out in class.