Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Loves of the Plants
I really enjoyed reading The Loves of the Plants. This poem is a really interesting juxtaposition of biology and fantasy. On one hand the author has a very scientific collection of the drawings of the plants, while his poem takes on a very fantastic view of his collection. The thing that struck me most about the poem was the motion Darwin gave the plants. In the poem the plants take on extremely human, very non-plant like characteristics. The plants are sensual and can woo each other, kiss, pull each other into embraces, roll their eyes, flirt, run away, and be murderers. They are given brows, lips, hair, eyes, and arms. Another thing that stood out to me was the use of mythology and the contrast with the supernatural and natural worlds. He turns what could be a very scientific list of types of plants and flowers into a collection of fairies, nymphs, gods, goddesses, monsters, and sirens. I thought this poem read very much like a fairy tale, and I love the fantastic version of nature we are given.
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I also liked the way that nature was presented. From reading, I can see he was a very structured and scientific man , but I'm glad he learned that scientific lingo doesn't attract a very large audience. By describing nature with personification and fantasy, readers are able to relate and understand what he is actually implying.
ReplyDeleteI especially loved the way the plants were described, as you mentioned. I think Darwin was able to embody the movement and "life" of the plants and produce a legitimate correlation between the plants and mankind (also the scientific versus the fanciful).
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