Talking Flowers and Rare Pearls

Talking Flowers and Rare Pearls

            “Maud” by Alfred Lord Tennyson is a work that is disliked by most critics because of the extreme use of psychological aspects such as talking flowers and vast imagery. Although the poem has many emotions twirling around in the 1,361 lines, there is a great love story intertwined in the madness of the speaker who is a hero as well as a lover of Maud, a beautiful maiden. “Maud” contains a lot of imagery with enough symbolism fill up an entire classroom.

“Maud” has no rhyme scheme, pattern, or any other type of conformity throughout the poem. The stanzas are different sizes throughout the three parts with some containing rhyme and structure with deep thoughts and some that are just purely a mess of nonsensical fantasy and madness. Nature is a theme throughout the poem, whether the speaker is pondering about flowers or the hollow where he reminisces about his father’s death. The first mention of a flower comes in part I, group II where the speaker says, “an hour’s/defect of the rose” (1. 82-83) when he is describing Maud’s beauty and how he finds her to be perfect. A general symbol of the rose is love, but Venefica says, “The most common interpretation is that the rose symbolizes an immortal love or a union that will never fade – even through time or death”. This meaning of a rose goes beyond the term love and the speaker shows that he feels much more for Maud than just surface love; his love is absolute, maybe because of his impending insanity coming from his emotions.

The rose appears most of out all the different species of flower in the poem, so the underlying meaning of the poem is immortal love. When describing Maud later in the poem, the speaker reverts back to using a rose to mention her beauty:

Rosy is the West,
Rosy is the South,
Roses are her cheeks,
And a rose her mouth. (1. 575-579)

Two prominent facial features are spoken of during this segment of the poem with both having the faint color of a rose naturally. During the entire group of XVII, the speaker has a rhyme pattern of ABAB and addresses of the color red multiple times. He also repeats lines 575-579 at the end of the group to emphasize that Maud is much like a rose. During the group of lines, the speaker tells Maud how much he loves her, so the descriptions that are depicted here are his feelings and emotions in imagery rather than actual words. The speaker is thinking clearly because of the use of rhyme pattern and repetition.

Lilies are another type of flower that the speaker mentions multiple times throughout the poem. According to Lad, lilies are symbols of “pure life”, “sheer innocence”, and “chastity as well as virtue”. Different cultures have diverse meanings for lilies, but innocence and purity are common in all cultures around the world. The speaker calls Maud a “Bright English lily” (738) which is a symbol for “purity and the Virgin Mary” (Charles). Throughout the poem, the speaker refers to Maud as either “lain in the/lilies of life” (1. 160-161) and having a “garden of roses/and lilies fair on a lawn” (1. 490-491).

Daffodils are mentioned along with the other flowers, though not quite as much throughout “Maud”. The very first time daffodil is mentioned in when the speaker says, “the shining daffodil dead, and Orion low in/his grave” (1. 101-102). This is the beginning of the poem, and the speaker is extremely depressed and constantly contemplating death and since daffodils have the symbolism of “friendship and domestic happiness” (Anonymous), this is a contrast in the meaning. Although this is the symbolism that most people associate with the daffodil flower, there is also a Victorian symbolic meaning; “The hidden message of the Birth Flower, the jonquil, so favored during the Victorian era was “You are an angel” (Anonymous). These two lines take on an entirely different meaning since daffodil now can mean angel. In the famous part, XXII, the speaker also mentions daffodils, but in a different manner because this time, the speaker is happy, not depressed. In part III, the final grouping of stanzas, the speaker uses the daffodil flower again in a manner of death; “And the shining daffodil dies, and the Char-/ioteer” (3. 6-7)

The most famous group of stanzas is XXII in part I known as “Come into the garden, Maud” which is the first line of the grouping. This set of stanzas mentions roses, daffodils, lilies, violets, and the passion flower. The setting is Maud’s garden and the speaker is waiting for her to come and meet him in the very early morning. He is slowly becoming insane because he starts imagining the flowers talking to him, specifically the rose and lily:

The red rose cries, “She is near, she is near”
And the white rose weeps, “She is late”
The larkspur listens, “I hear, I hear”
“And the lily whispers, “I wait.” (1. 912-915)

Each flower symbolizes something different in these four lines. The red rose symbolizes love and passion (Stritof); the speaker wants Maud to hurry and meet him. The white rose symbolizes virtue and secrecy (Stritof); the speaker and Maud are meeting at twilight, so the meeting is secret. The larkspur symbolizes lightness and fickleness (Stritof); the speaker is patiently waiting for Maud and he is waiting to hear her in the garden. The lily represents purity (Stritof); the speaker believes that Maud is virginal and he will wait for her. This is the stanza that changes the speaker completely. He has gone from a desperate, depressed man to a man full of hope and light because Maud has entered his life.

Pearls, although they are not flowers, are repetitive throughout the narrative poem as well. Pearls are often thought of as a special jewelry item, rare and very expensive. When the hero mentions the word pearl, he is normally referring to Maud as in the following lines;

But now shine on, and what care I,
Who in this stormy gulf have found a pearl
The countercharm of space and hollow sky,
And do accept my madness, and would die
To save from some slight shame one simple
girl? – (1. 639-643)

The speaker is saying that he has found a rare woman in a sea of simplicity. Maud accepts the speaker as he is, insanity and all. He has finally found happiness, and he will do anything for Maud because he loves her so dearly. The word “Pearl” also comes to mind when thinking of the popular novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne entitled The Scarlett Letter. One of the main character’s names is Pearl who is a child and both innocent and beautiful. Tennyson may have unintentionally incorporated this symbolism of the world pearl into his poem, giving the word pearl a new meaning altogether.

With the use of many types of flowers and the special pearl, Tennyson’s famous yet underestimated work portrays symbolism and imagery at its finest. Flowers can showcase many things including emotion, feeling, and in this case, they can talk (well, sort of). The speaker refers to Maud as many different flowers throughout the poem, but she mainly coincides with the most popular; the rose. There is no doubt of the speaker’s love for Maud, and by using the flowers to symbolize different things throughout the course of his courtship with Maud, realization occurs that the speaker is slightly insane because of overwhelming feelings for the one he loves.

Works Cited

Anonymous. “March Birth Flower.” Birthstones. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. <http://www.birthstones.org.uk/birth-month-flowers/march-birth-flower.htm&gt;.

Charles, Thomas. “Symbolism of Lily Flowers | EHow.com.” EHow | How To Do Just About Everything! | How To Videos & Articles. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. <http://www.ehow.com/about_6534748_symbolism-lily-flowers.html&gt;.

Fraser, Amy E. “Pearl Symbolism.” EXALTED BEAUTY. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. <http://exalted-beauty.blogspot.com/2007/05/pearl-symbolism.html&gt;.

Lad, Kashmira. “Symbolism of the Lily.” Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/symbolism-of-the-lily.html&gt;.

Roddey, Kristi. “Passion Flowers Meaning | Meaning of Passion Flowers | Passion Flower Information.” The Meaning of the Passion Flower | EHow.com. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. <http://www.arenaflowers.com/facts/flowers/flower_meanings/passion_flowers&gt;.

Stritof, Sheri, and Bob Stritof. “Meaning of Flowers — The Language and Meaning of Flowers for Married Couples.” About.com. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. <http://marriage.about.com/od/flowers/a/flowermean_2.htm&gt;.

Tennyson, Alfred. “Maud.” Victorian Poetry and Poetics. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968. 88-108. Print.

Venefica, Avia. “Symbolic Meanings Blog by Avia Venefica » Blog Archive » By Any Other Name, It’s Still Symbolic. Meaning of the Rose.” Symbolic Meanings Blog by Avia Venefica. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. <http://www.symbolic-meanings.com/2008/02/29/by-any-other-name-its-still-symbolic-meaning-of-the-rose/&gt;.