Flowers
I will not have the mad Clytie,Whose head is turned by the sun;The tulip is a courtly queen,Whom, therefore, I will shun;The cowslip is a country wench,The violet is a nun;--But I will woo the dainty rose,The queen of every one.
The pea is but a wanton witch,In too much haste to wed,And clasps her rings on every hand;The wolfsbane I should dread;Nor will I dreary rosemarye,That always mourns the dead;--But I will woo the dainty rose,With her cheeks of tender red.
The lily is all in white, like a saint,And so is no mate for me--And the daisy's cheek is tipped with a blush,She is of such low degree;Jasmine is sweet, and has many loves,And the broom's betroth'd to the bee;--But I will plight with the dainty rose,For fairest of all is she.
Words in this poem
- tulip n.
- Any plant of the liliaceous genus Tulipa. Many varieties are cultivated for their beautiful, often variegated flowers. Tulip tree. [F. tulipe, OF. also tulipan, It. tulipano, tulipa, from Turk. tulbend, dulbend, literally, a turban, Per. dulband; -- so called from the resemblance of the form]
- courtly a.
- Relating or belonging to a court. [From Court.]
- cowslip n.
- A common flower in England (Primula veris) having yellow blossoms and appearing in early spring. It is often cultivated in the United States. [AS. c, c, prob. orig., cow's droppings. Cf. Slop, n.]
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- wolfsbane n.
- A poisonous plant (Aconitum Lycoctonum), a kind of monkshood; also, by extension, any plant or species of the genus Aconitum. See Aconite.
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Flowers is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood, Project Gutenberg ebook #15652; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hood, Flowers, in The Song of the Shirt, and Other Poems (1826–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15652, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poetical-works/flowers.html, id L26114.
Form and metre
Flowers is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A-A-A clytie · sunA · queen · shunA · wench · nunA · rose · oneA
- 2 -A-A-A-A witch · wedA · hand · dreadA · rosemarye · deadA · rose · redA
- 3 -A-A-A-A saint · meA · blush · degreeA · loves · beeA · rose · sheA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I will not have the mad Clytie, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Whose head is turned by the sun; | 7 | ······· |
| The tulip is a courtly queen, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Whom, therefore, I will shun; | 6 | ······ |
| The cowslip is a country wench, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The violet is a nun;-- | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| But I will woo the dainty rose, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The queen of every one. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| The pea is but a wanton witch, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In too much haste to wed, | 6 | ······ |
| And clasps her rings on every hand; | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| The wolfsbane I should dread; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Nor will I dreary rosemarye, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| That always mourns the dead;-- | 6 | ·/···· |
| But I will woo the dainty rose, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With her cheeks of tender red. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The lily is all in white, like a saint, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And so is no mate for me-- | 7 | ······· |
| And the daisy's cheek is tipped with a blush, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| She is of such low degree; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Jasmine is sweet, and has many loves, | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| And the broom's betroth'd to the bee;-- | 8 | ········ |
| But I will plight with the dainty rose, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| For fairest of all is she. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.