Review on Contemplation upon flowers.

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BRAVE flowers, that I could gallant it like you

And be as little vain,

You come abroad, and make a harmless shew,

And to your bedds of Earthe again;

You are not proud, you know your birth

For your Embroidered garments are from Earth:

You doe obey your months, and times, but I

Would have it ever spring,

My fate would know nor winter, never die

Nor think of such a thing;

Oh that I could my bedd of Earth but view

And Smile, and looke as Cheerfully as you:

Oh teach me to see Death, and not to fear

But rather to take truce;

How often have I seene you at a Beere,

And there look fresh and spruce;

You fragrant flowers then teach me that my breath

Like yours may sweeten, and perfume my Death.

~ Henry King

In a contemplation of flowers, the poet emphasizes on his appreciation of the flowers as seen in line 1. The poet brings the flowers to life by giving them human lke qualities such as " brave" and " gallant". He wishes to be brave as the flowers. In the poem a contrast seen of how the poet views death against how the flowers view it and accepts it. Hence, he wants the flowers to teach him how to overcome his fear of death which implies that he is quite a coward.He fears that the world will come to an end and that we are all going to perish off the surface of the earth. He looks at the flowers and realizes that they bloom, grow, die and go back into the earth. Flowers accept the fact that there comes a time when they may die, there are seasons where they die out(winter) and seasons like spring where they blossom and portray their endless beauty. Human beings on the other hand look forward to their favourite season year round. The poet compares the beauty of the flowers to that of human beings although unlike flowers who accept that they are all beautiful. Human beings believe that there is some extent where one is more beautiful than another and may tend to break down the other . Flowers accept the cycle of life and death while it tends to be hard for humans to accept these circumstances.

In my opinion I believe that we (humans) should try to imitate the characteristics which the flowers possess.