Poetry and Flowers

This workshop responds to the Springtime mood of last month’s class, exploring poetry about flowers! 

This morning we will:

Hear some poems which describe and observe flowers, and use flowers as a jumping-off point for a wide range of different ideas and moods.
Discuss how the authors express their feelings and convey their thoughts.
Talk reflectively together, share our perspectives and favourites, and how these poems can give us a new insight.

The Poems

1. William Wordsworth, Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

2. Cynthia Zarin, Flowers

3. Sylvia Plath, extracts from Tulips

4. Richard Wilbur, Having Misidentified a Wildflower

 

Further Reading

You may like to have a look at Words for our selection of poetry and prose on the theme of death and dying.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and learn from your insights and experiences. Feel free to speak to the nursing team or get in touch with us directly cambridgegooddeath@gmail.com.

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