The Sensitive Plant (Shelley)

In class we covered many different ways to read this poem. We discussed environment, man vs. nature, psychology, religion, government and colonialism in regards to Great Britain and the rest of the world. Out of all the frames of mind to read this poem in, I found that it was fun to see it as all encompassing.


The poem starts us off fresh in spring time. Shelley uses beautiful imagery and a sense of order with the rhyme scheme to describe flowers rising up from the ground. Just hear how Shelley describes a lily,


And the wand-like lily, which lifted up,
As a Maenad, its moonlight-coloured cup,
Till the fiery star, which is its eye,"
Gazed through clear dew on the tender sky;


Shelley gives each flower that rises up a distinct personality which I feel is very important to note


 As we continue to read on, Shelly creates a cyclical feeling as well as transcendence by moving through the seasons of the year. We go from Spring, to Summer, Fall, and Ultimately Winter. Spring is full of promise, Summer's Eve is somewhat of Mother Nature and keep the garden flourishing then the leaves of change fall from the trees to eventually bring us to Winter with all its decay.


I feel like Shelly could be explaining the cyclical properties of existence. In life we going through different seasons. We grow, we swelter, we change, and we decay to ultimately grow back again. Shelly's lines in the conclusion say this about death,


"For love, and beauty, and delight,
There is no death nor change: their might
Exceeds our organs, which endure
No light, being themselves obscure."


That there is no death because death is only a doorway to new life. The cyclical nature of life is that of an Oroboro's (a mythical snake or dragon that continuously eats itself in a circle to stay alive). Different Nations rise just like the different flowers but time is cruel and eventually the Nations fall only to create new Nations and repeat the cycle.