Notes 3/27

The Child and Flowers by Mrs Hemans


The poet is writing to our inner child. An ekphrastistic poem is a poem written about an image. In the poem, the child went to the meadow and brought back some flowers. "Nature hath mines of such wealth--and thou/ Never wilt prize its delights as now!" As we grow, we lose our childlike wonder of nature, even though that wonder never fades. We change, not nature.


Some questions...

Is the meaning 0f the poem the same in all the different versions? Does the format affect the meaning?


The content is the same in all the different versions but the reading experience will be different due to the reader's preference. The format can affect the meaning. With poems, the flow and breaks in poems can be important and if that flow is disrupted or changed the meaning could be altered.


How is the visual image of the poem helpful to understanding?


Some poems are meant to be seen and read, rather than heard and understood. Seeing a poem, how its put together, the way in which it's constructed, all adds to the poem's experience. If we lose the ability to visualize poems, either by digitizing or by putting them in books, we'll lose something about the poems that we won't be able to get back.