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Pine away with desire: pine means desire, but the phrase means to suffer slowly
or silent withering (as of sunflower); shrouded in snow: buried in snow; aspire:
yearn; Where my sunflower wishes to do: the sunflower wishes to go to the
golden world where everybody is free.
The sunflower is tired of its existence, perhaps because of this restrictive world.
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The sunflower symbolizes a man who is also a traveler. Thus, the sunflower
seeks the world of liberty, the golden world where every youth and virgin wish to
go. Even death cannot stop them; they would continue to seek the Golden world
as haunted spirits! All three- The sunflower, the young man, and the virgin are
seekers of the golden land.
Blake might have accepted the image of Sunflower from Thomas Taylor’s
translations. He could have also chosen the image from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
The Mythology:
In mythology, the nymph Clytie’s love for Hyperion, the sun god, goes
unrequited, and she died. She transformed into a flower that tracks the sun
during the day as a sunflower does. Both Sun and Sunflower are considered to
affirm life.
In mythology, the nymph Clytie dies from unrequited love for Hyperion, the sun
god. She transforms into a flower that tracks the sun during the day, as the
sunflower does. Since the sun is traditionally seen as the source of life, the
sunflower can also be used as an image that affirms life. In Christianity, the sun’s
rising in the East is seen as a sign of resurrection and, thus, eternal life.
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Eternity and Symbolic Interpretation:
The poem has a critical symbolic meaning and supports varied criticisms. The
sunflower lives on earth, where it is dominated by time. The sunflower lives as a
slave of time and wishes to attain immortality. That’s why it looks at the sun,
which lives in eternity. The irony lies in fact, the sun itself withers the flower and
dooms it to death. The “sweet golden chime” refers to the legendary Golden Age
that comes when the course of the sun, moon, earth, and all the universe is
complete.
The phrase ‘pine away’ bears special significance as it may also refer to
‘Narcissus of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. On seeing his reflection on the water,
Narcissus falls in love and later transforms himself into a flower of melancholy
after his own name.
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Thus, the youth who pines away with desire is Narcissus, acquiring some
celestial heights and refers to the Narcissus flower blooming from mother earth’s
grave.
“Pale Virgin shrouded in the snow” may remind us of Proserpine, who King of
Hades abducted. Later, her mother Cares, in search of Proserpine, comes to
Hades and puts her claim.
Ah, Sunflower’s poem portrays the optimistic outlook- The sunflower’s aspiration
for immortality and a world of perfection. The idea of pessimism emanates from
thinking the wintering away of the sunflower and its incapability of achieving
eternal life.
YOU BEAUTY
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On Another’s Sorrow: Analysis
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Unpleasant
surprise in
picture
The reason why she
didn't want to stay in a
relationship with him and
"led for divorce
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