워즈워스의 꽃 시: 수선화, 피카리아, 데이지
Wordsworth’s Poetry and Flowers: Daffodils, Daisies and the Small Celandine
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This paper examines the ways in which William Wordsworth innovates the botanic representation of flowers in the late eighteenth century, focusing particularly on daffodils, daisies and the small celandine. Wordsworth becomes disenchanted with Erasmus Darwin’s personification and hyperbole that the scientist-poet employs in describing flowers in great detail in The Botanic Garden. Central to Wordsworth’s poetry is his self-awareness as both a receiver and creator of what his mind beholds. Fostered both by beauty and fear as depicted in The Prelude, Wordsworth discovers not just joy and beauty but also the fear and vulnerability that flowers possess in common with humanity. First of all, daffodils aided him in overcoming depression and experiencing “the bliss of solitude” as his heart dances with the blooms in “I wandered lonely as a cloud.” The small celandine, Wordsworth’s favorite flower, teaches him to be resilient in the face of bad weather and to celebrate with humility in three poems addressed to the flower. Since the daisy is strongly linked to his brother John, it serves as an important reminder of human frailty as well as beauty and pleasure in the fourth of the poems on the flower. The other three poems about the daisy play a similar role of cheering and at the same time tranquilizing the mind. In the wake of John’s death in February 1805, however, Wordsworth sublimates his grief to the poetic tradition of elegy by writing poems as a part of his grieving process in an attempt to remember his brother and to record epitaphic inscriptions. Wordsworth’s floral poems showcase his empathetic imagination with regard to life and death in non-human entities. As a result, Wordsworth emphasizes the finitude of both humans and flowers, yet he maintains that poetry about flowers is timeless and never fades in book pages or readers’ thoughts.
Abstract
This paper examines the ways in which William Wordsworth innovates the botanic representation of flowers in the late eighteenth century, focusing particularly on daffodils, daisies and the small celandine. Wordsworth becomes disenchanted with Erasmus Darwin’s personification and hyperbole that the scientist-poet employs in describing flowers in great detail in The Botanic Garden. Central to Wordsworth’s poetry is his self-awareness as both a receiver and creator of what his mind beholds. Fostered both by beauty and fear as depicted in The Prelude, Wordsworth discovers not just joy and beauty but also the fear and vulnerability that flowers possess in common with humanity. First of all, daffodils aided him in overcoming depression and experiencing “the bliss of solitude” as his heart dances with the blooms in “I wandered lonely as a cloud.” The small celandine, Wordsworth’s favorite flower, teaches him to be resilient in the face of bad weather and to celebrate with humility in three poems addressed to the flower. Since the daisy is strongly linked to his brother John, it serves as an important reminder of human frailty as well as beauty and pleasure in the fourth of the poems on the flower. The other three poems about the daisy play a similar role of cheering and at the same time tranquilizing the mind. In the wake of John’s death in February 1805, however, Wordsworth sublimates his grief to the poetic tradition of elegy by writing poems as a part of his grieving process in an attempt to remember his brother and to record epitaphic inscriptions. Wordsworth’s floral poems showcase his empathetic imagination with regard to life and death in non-human entities. As a result, Wordsworth emphasizes the finitude of both humans and flowers, yet he maintains that poetry about flowers is timeless and never fades in book pages or readers’ thoughts.