To the Chinese, the humble daffodil symbolizes good fortune, to the Greeks, vanity. Another association might be with Imagism in early 20th century poetry. In the March 1911 issue of the magazine Poetry, two manifestos of the new movement were published. One was by Ezra Pound, the other by history of poetry for his statements later in life, but Flint has been unfairly neglected. In the anthology Some Imagist Poems (1915), Flint's work occupies a deserved place next to that of Pound, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), and Richard Aldington. His poem Lunch is really about the daffodil."FRAIL beauty,
green, gold and incandescent whiteness,
narcissi, daffodils,
you have brought me Spring and longing,
wistfulness,
in your irradiance.
Therefore, I sit here
among the people,
dreaming,
and my heart arches
with all the hawthorn blossom,
the bees humming,
the light wind upon the poplars,
and your warmth and your love
and your eyes . . .
they smile and know me."
- F. S. Flint - Lunch from Some Imagist Poems : An Anthology (Boston, Houghton Mifflin: 1915).
Emile Galle - Narcissus Vase, 1884, Musee D'Orsay, Paris.
4 comments:
Beautiful! Thank you, Jane, for Augustus Vincent Tack, the Autochromes, and this poem, this wonderful poem, which have all buoyed me up on this rain-filled morning.
Tack's paintings are never static; they seem to move while you look at them.
When I see daffodils I think of squirrels. They dig up the bulbs and transplant them when they realize (smart little creatures) that there ia a poisonous substance in daffodil bulbs. Tulips get no such mercy, as they are sweet and tasty.
Ah-hah ... so that's what happened to my tulip bulbs!
My squirrels used to re-plant the daffodils in some strange places, but I never managed to grow tulips in that yard - not once!
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