Ah Sun-flower

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done;

Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves and aspire,
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

Explication:
In the in the first Stanza of the poem “Ah Sun-flower”, the reader gets the impression that the season is summer and that even though time passes, the sun-flower never becomes weary. It is constantly growing towards the sun–towards heaven. In the second stanza, the sun-flower can be described as a youth that can arise in the most unusual places and show the world its beauty. Also in the second stanza, Blake could be describing the winter months when sun-flowers are not in bloom. When Blake writes, “the pale Virgin shrouded in snow/ Arise from their graves and aspire/ Where my Sun-flower wishes to go (lines 6-8)” he may be comparing the sun-flower, which is dormant in the winter, to the deceased buried in graves. It seems as though Blake is saying that the spirits of the dead are rising from the graves and ascending to heaven. The last line of the poem seems that the sun-flower, although asleep for the winter, is longing for the summer sun when once again it can grow tall and raise its face toward heaven. This poem is an excellent example of a Romantic poem because of the motif of finding spirituality through nature.

References:

Straatmann, Rita. “Sunflower with Butterfly.” Backyard Living Magazine. 13 May 2009. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:
//www.backyardlivingmagazine.com/photo-gallery/