Petals
by Amy Lowell
Life is a stream
On which we strew
Petal by petal the flower of our heart;
The end lost in dream,
They float past our view,
We only watch their glad, early start.Freighted with hope,
Crimsoned with joy,
We scatter the leaves of our opening rose;
Their widening scope,
Their distant employ,
We never shall know. And the stream as it flows
Sweeps them away,
Each one is gone
Ever beyond into infinite ways.
We alone stay
While years hurry on,
The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays.
Meanings of Petals
The poem “Petals” by Amy Lowell presents life through the metaphor of a stream. The poem demonstrates the main idea of the transience of life, nature, and time.
Meanings of Lines 1-6
Life is a stream
On which we strew
Petal by petal the flower of our heart;
The end lost in dream,
They float past our view,
We only watch their glad, early start.
The poet states that life is like a stream that is full of petals of the flower of our heart. Everybody has thrown some petals of his love or heart. However, the end is lost in a dream as we only watch the petals happily floating on the surface of the stream but they lose our view very soon. These verses clearly show through this metaphor that life is not a bed of roses and only the start seems jubilant and exciting.
Meanings of Lines 7-13
Freighted with hope,
Crimsoned with joy,
We scatter the leaves of our opening rose;
Their widening scope,
Their distant employ,
We never shall know. And the stream as it flows
The poet is of the view that life shows us hope and joy, which make us happy or sad. Yet, we continue scattering the petals of our happiness. However, we stay unaware of their long-term impacts as we stay unaware of their scope and their employment, even if it is in the distant future. And still, the stream continues. These verses again present the main idea of the transience of life.
Meanings of Lines 13-19
Sweeps them away,
Each one is gone
Ever beyond into infinite ways.
We alone stay
While years hurry on,
The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays.
Continuing with the previous thought, the poet states that the continuity of the flow of the stream sweeps away everything, including the scope and employment of the petals. They move beyond our visibility in infinite ways. Human beings, the poet says, are left alone as time passes quickly. The flower, he adds, fares forth, but only its fragrance stays back. This shows that a person’s good actions stay behind while time eats up age and everything else accompanying it. These verses complete the main idea of the transience of life, nature, and time.
Summary of Petals
- Popularity of “Petals”: Written by Amy Lowell, a great English writer and poet, “Petals” is a metaphorical, poetic piece. First published in 1912, the poem compares life to a constant floating stream. Also, it compares a man’s heart to a beautiful flower whose petals get strewn in the floating stream. The poem, however, gained the desired fame due to the unique comparison of the human heart to flower petals.
- “Petals” As a Representative of Life: This poem is about the transience of life. It begins when the speaker directly compares human life to a stream. She says that we intentionally strew the flower of our heart petal by petal. The fallen petals float past our eyes, providing an enchanting view in the beginning. However, the excitement turns into wonder when these petals disappear. Furthermore, the speaker compares the human heart to a flower. She says that the flower grows inside us with lots of hopes, and we intentionally scatter its petals to have delightful experiences in life. Some scattered petals bring us a moment of glory, but some fail to do so. However, slowly and gradually, every petal loses its existence in the constantly flowing stream of life, leaving us alone with the memories of golden days.
- Major Themes in “Petals”: The poem’s major themes are the transience of life, time, and natural beauty. The poem beautifully compares life to a running stream and the human heart to a flower that blooms secretly. However, when its petals grow bigger, we intentionally bring the flower into the world and start dropping its petals one by one until we completely lose the flower. The poet uses various poetic elements to state no matter what happens, life never stops. Also, she explains how one starts life having fanciful dreams and looks ahead into the future, visualizing it as the best one. Reality yet brings us something different. As time passes, our dreams slowly fade away, but even after fading, they remain in our minds forever.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Petals
literary devices bring richness and uniqueness to the text. Amy Lowell has made this poem laudable by inserting many literary devices into it. The analysis of the devices used in the poem is as follows.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /e/ in “We scatter the leaves of our opening rose” and the sound of /o/ in “Each one is gone.”
- Anaphora: It refers to the repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses. Amy has repeated the word “their” in the second stanza of the poem to emphasize the point such as;
“Their widening scope,
Their distant employ,”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /r/ in “The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays” and the sound of /t/ in “We only watch their glad, early start.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;
“We alone stay
While years hurry on,
The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays.”
- Epigraph: It is a device used in the form of a poem, quote or sentence, usually placed in the beginning of the poem to suggest the overall theme of the poem. For example, “Life is a stream.”
- Irony: Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. Amy Lowell used this device in the second stanza of the poem, where she states that we intentionally scatter the petals of our heart, such as; “We scatter the leaves of our opening rose.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Amy has used imagery in this poem such as; “We only watch their glad, early start”, “We scatter the leaves of our opening rose” and “We never shall know. And the stream as it flows.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The poet has used passing time as an extended metaphor in the poem to show no matter what happens, time never stops.
- Symbolism: Symbolism uses symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal ones. The poem uses symbols such as the transience of life, fragility, the passing of time, and sadness.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Petals
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: The poem shows descriptive diction having rhetorical devices, symbolism, and impressive images.
- End Rhyme: End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. Amy Lowell has used end rhyme in this poem, such as; “strew/view”, “heart/start” and “hope/scope.”
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are two stanzas in this poem, with each comprising different lines.
Quotes to be Used
The lines stated below are useful when talking about the fragility of life.
“Life is a stream
On which we strew
Petal by petal the flower of our heart;
The end lost in dream,
They float past our view,
We only watch their glad, early start”