Distrustful of the Gentian
poem 20
Distrustful of the Gentian - meaning Summary
Avoidance and Fragile Perception
The poem depicts a speaker who turns away from delicate beauty and harsh weather alike, using images of flowers, bees, brooks, evening spires and a distant heaven to show retreat from perception and suffering. Repeated contrasts—activity outside and the speaker’s withdrawal toward closing eyes and a hand below—suggest a desire to avoid pain and exposure, and a fragile, evasive relation to the world and mortality.
Read Complete AnalysesDistrustful of the Gentian And just to turn away, The fluttering of her fringes Child my perfidy Weary for my I will singing go I shall not feel the sleet then I shall not fear the snow. Flees so the phantom meadow Before the breathless Bee So bubble brooks in deserts On Ears that dying lie Burn so the Evening Spires To Eyes that Closing go Hangs so distant Heaven To a hand below.
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