The Flower Poem - Degree 4th sem english lessons pdf

Class: Degree 2nd Year

Sem: Degree 4th Sem

Subject: English 2023
Lesson: 1. The Flower

University: OU

State: Telangana

INTRODUCTION: -

“The Flower” is a delightful poem written by Alfred Tennyson. He was a famous poet of the 19th century and also one of the most well-known Victorian poets. he was born on 6th Aug 1809 and died on 6th Oct 1892. He served as “the poet laureate of England”. This beautiful poem was originally published in 1864 and Tennyson called it “My Little Fable”. His famous poems were “lotos-Eaters”, “Ulysses”, and “In memoriam”. The flower is a short poem marked by a sense of Sound, Rhythm and Lyricism. The rhyme scheme of the first four stanzas is ABAB. However, in the last two stanzas, it changes to ABCB.

SUMMARY: - 

In the poem “The flower” Tennyson talks about general wisdom. It is a figurative poem. The poem is written in the style of “Fable”. Fable is a story that ends with a moral. This poem also has a moral, that is, how people will appreciate new ideas or new things in the beginning and they consider it useless and call it ‘old’ after some time. The poet warns the readers that new ideas and activities are ridiculed by others. 
The flower depicts two different things. First, people have different views about the same thing. Opinions vary from one person to another. Second, as a short story with morals, it is a convincible and honest poem that helps us to get encouraged in our lives. It emphasizes the significance of unconcerned praise and criticism.

In this poem, the poet uses a seed for the birth of something new. The narrator says once he had sown a new seed into the earth and hoped for a wonderful blooming plant, in some good time that over the years blossomed into a beautiful flower; but people didn’t appreciate it and called it a ‘weed’. 
All those who passed by his garden saw the flower and expressed their disapproval and they kept on criticizing the flower and cursed the poet. However, people’s curses had no effect on the growth of the flower it kept on growing in beauty and brilliance. The plant wore a crown of light but then the thief stole the narrator’s other similar seeds at night. The stolen seeds were sowed in cities, buildings and every town. So, everybody praised its shape and appreciated the beauty of the flowers produced by seeds.

There is an irony to this story as, at first, the flower is described as a "weed", but later it is described as "wonderful"(splendid)
 It is a morality poem because the author tries to show everyone a flower, but no one wants to see it. But, in the end, because they spread so fast everywhere, they had to watch all day in all the towns. The poem can be left to the reader's imagination. The different readers of the poem have different opinions. This is clearly proved in the poem as some people call the flower “splendid” and some others call it a weed. While things may look at first, as time goes on, they become less so. Things are supposed to improve after a while. 

When he once started literature, many people criticized him. Even when he was criticized, he did not step back and he wrote great works, many people read them and said that they are very wonderful. Those who once thought that his writings were not good, today they think that they are very good.      
Thus, the readers should understand that people change their views according to their moods. The human mind and nature are constantly changing. He also emphasized the need to maintain consistency in one’s viewpoint. The poem suggests that we should have the courage to uphold our beliefs and convictions. A person should be able to stand firm in one’s beliefs and ideas. 

Therefore, one who is convinced of one’s faith should not be misled by the opinions of others. So, this is a moral that the poet wants to convey to the readers through this poem.