What Does The Flowers Symbolize In Paul's Case

After Paul’s wife suicide, his life dramatically changes and he finds himself lost in a foreign, yet known, city. The despair drives Paul to find a shelter to comfort himself, far away from everything that could remind him of Rose, his now-deceased wife.

Before committing suicide, it occurs to Paul that “all the flowers he had seen in the glass cases that first night must have gone the same way, long before this. It was only one splendid breath they had, in spite of their brave mockery at the winter outside the glass, and it was a losing game in the end, it seemed, this revolt against the homilies by which the world is run”(Cather 2). Paul, like the flowers, attempted to go somewhere he thought he would belong but is unable to fit in in this place and as a result ends his life. Before his journey to New York, Paul knew he didn’t belong on Cordelia Street but was able to get pleasure from imagining his life in New York. It is only after Paul goes to live this imaginary reality and realizes he does not fit in there either that this fear of rejection comes true. Furthermore, this demonstrates how Paul’s trip to New York is the cause of Paul’s depression worsening and his eventual suicide.

Whenever he is facing something troubling, Paul always seems to go to something that symbolizes spring. After being bereted by his teachers, Paul goes to work early to look at the painting “Paul possessed himself of the place and walked confidently up and down, whistling under his breath. After a while he sat before a blue Rico and lost himself” (178). Simply focusing on the bright, and vibrant colors of the paintings seem to be a euphoric release for Paul, and so is listening to the lively music of Carnegie Hall: “He felt a sudden zest of life; the lights danced before his eyes and the concert hall blazed into unimaginable splendor” (178). There is always happy music played in the spring. After Paul’s father takes away all of Paul’s joy, all of his escapes, Paul finds no other choice but to steal away and find the life he has always wanted to live. Paul goes on a search for happiness and finds it in bright colorful New York City. The atmosphere brings Paul to life. Paul is surrounded by flowers, the most recognizable symbol of spring, bright colors, and happy people. He finally feels like he belongs: “He could not remember a time when he had felt so at peace with

The arresting union of beauty and decay in the unexpected form of flower is experienced in the poem entitled “November Cotton Flower”. In this poem, Toomer writes of the blooming of the flower during a time of death. The poem reads, “dead birds were found/ In wells a hundred feet below the ground –/ Such was the season when the flower bloomed” (4). Linked by a hyphen to the verses preceding the arrival of the flower, the flower must be understood as a direct result of the death in the surrounding environment. Though it appears that the flower is overcoming a time of death and ugliness through its birth, the flower’s creation due to the dry, dying soil also emphasizes the death and pain inherent in the flower. The text proclaims, “Drouht fighting

Galway Kinnell’s poem “Saint Francis and the Sow” incorporates motifs from the loveliness found in life. By using innocence as his motive, he then causes the reader to feel a form of guilt. This begins with Kinnell referencing a bud, to him “the bud” can represent “all things”, but at first glance one may expect him to be using the literal meaning of a flower bud, which in simplest terms is a baby flower. From this meaning, however, one can figure out the figurative side of what Kinnell may be trying to say. These themes of flowers and birth can both represent pureness, beauty, and innocent.

In this paragraph, the narrator is almost inside Paul, telling his thoughts to the readers. This whole paragraph is like a monologue of Paul reflecting on his life, in which he chose to deny his former controlled. The details "sickening men, with combings... in their clothes", which Paul mentioned about Cordelia street, are showing a life he doesn't want: controlled by illness, controlled by family, and finally controlled by life. He rather want to forget about the restrictions of his former life and intoxicate himself in this uncontrollable upper-class night. At the end of the paragraph Paul thought about the "stem of a glass... and middle finger", in which case instead of being controlled by something, he himself is controlling the glass,

Paul was a young man. He was getting a teacher’s education. He was a good student and a wonderful sportsman. He lived with his mother, Mrs Burgess, in Belfast. She was quite unsociable and reserved. The first five years of his life Paul had spent in the North of England. He had very good relations with his father, Rees; they loved to spend time together. Later his family moved to Wortley. When they lived there, his father died because of a railway accident. Soon after

     Paul has very little interest in his class studies. This leaves him open to distraction and eventually criticism. Although Paul’s appearance is that of a perfect gentleman, his teachers find his behavior inappropriate and unacceptable. The narrator draws particular attention to Paul’s eyes describing them as “remarkable

In the poem, “The Flowers” , Alice Ambulator conveys the construal of the abandonment of inculpability. This is present when Myop discovers a corpse as she is on her ambulation in the woods to pick berries. Alice Ambulator uses Imagery and setting to accentuate the denotement of the poem because the Imagery provides detail to the realities of today’s world and the setting provides a deep understanding of childhood and tenebrosity.

I don’t think I could.” (11,12). He is actually saying that he cannot love her without her breasts and a whole body, a crude way of looking at women and the attractiveness of the older painter as being “just a body” rather than her entire self. This is perfectly symbolized in her response to his rejection of her and ties back to the title, “A Story About the Body.” The painter gives her response with much symbolism. The blue bowl at first “looked to be full of rose petals” but in truth the rose petals only coated the surface and hid the rest of the bowl that was filled with the bodies of insects, possibly painting a gory and repulsive image of the old painter’s opinion of the younger composer (14). By doing this, she hoped to reveal to him his true nature in a poetic and artistic way without having to see or speak to him again. She uses the rose petals as a symbol for his shallow love which looks pleasing and beautiful, but only coats the top of the bowl. The dead bees at the bottom of the bowl symbolize the death, grief, and disgust she may have felt at his rejection. It can also symbolize the uselessness of his first sentiments as the bees which are known to be hard working and productive especially in the spring and summer months are dead. At the abrupt ending of this prose poem the young man is left

bittersweet melancholy at life’s impermanence – that additional beauty imparted to cherry blossoms, say, or human

Paul seems engrossed with his letters, pacing around the apartment staring at them, never really lifting his eyes to properly meet his wife’s gaze. The letters are symbolic of his work – his priorities now lie there, and not his wife. For a second, Lucille seems to snap from a sullen mood to a more playful one, and perhaps in a bid to grasp her husband’s attention once more, she asks him to guess what she bought today. When he asks what, and does not get an immediate answer, he reacts with irritation instead of

The tone of the sestet can be identified through the questions the narrator asks. The first question is of annoyance and slight confusion. The flower is the subject of this confusion. As a heal-all, its proper color is blue, and should not have been white. This is the first clue that suggests the involvement of something other than random chance. The blue had been cast aside and forgotten, and the narrator views the flower as innocent. It had been implicated in such an awful event by no fault of its own. This raises the question of whose fault it actually was.

The most important of these scene takes place when Paul, Miriam and Clara are together in a open field in the country. Paul meets Clara for the first time and is attracted to her. The three if them come to an open field and they begin to pick flowers. Paul picks the flowers scientifically yet there is a natural beauty in is bunches. His contact with the flowers is direct and spontaneous. He is alive and organic flowers are his to take. Miriam picks the flowers lovingly and reverentially. As she picks them she seems to be killing the life out of them. The bunches she makes do not have much elegance. Her way of picking flowers suggest that she has no right to life. When it comes to Clara, she states quite militantly tat flowers should not be picked as it kills them. What she means to says she doesn’t want to be picked by ay man. Comparing all, Mark Spilka

The aster flower represents the absence of love and patience. Witch-hazel, meaning pliant or bendable, signifies that both parties in the relationship are unwilling to be flexible and understanding of each other’s wants, needs, and desires. Their hearts are “aching to seek,” (62) but they are in denial of any possible way to make the relationship work. The relationship between the “last lone aster”, “witch-hazel”, and the narrator connect the life and death cycle that is viewable in nature to his relationship. Frost recognizes that “knowledge of nature and man’s self-knowledge were thus interdependent.” (63) By understanding this, he can apply the wisdom to his relationship. A flower, as well as a relationship, need to be tended to or will begin the “wither.” Nevertheless, the life of the flower or relationship is never guaranteed. In love, one must remain flexible, knowing that even as a flower begins to “wither”, there may still be a way to bring it back to life.