Wearing the last self-image I was left with
Before my strength went down down into the darkness […]
In this poem, Oswald calls upon the moralistic story of Narcissus, who fell in love with his reflection and ultimately committed suicide because he would never be able to live a life with the mirror-image. The narrator metaphorizes Narcissus as a flower that blooms and then wilts. In this particular quotation, the flower, much like Narcissus, is succumbing to the realization that one cannot fall in love with one’s self. The flower holds onto the final image of itself, reflect up from a river, and then willingly wilts into oblivion—a metaphor for Narcissus’s own suicidal act.
First of April – new born gentle.
Fleeting wakeful on a greenleaf cradle.
In this poem, the narrator personifies humans in the lifecycle of the primrose flower. Here, at the beginning of the poem, which starts on the first day of April, the primrose blooms for the first time. It is a gentle entrance to the world and is representative of birth. This opening quotation is essential to the context of the poem, as it establishes the lifecycle metaphor which is used for the following stanzas.
Fifteenth sixteenth. So on so on.
Soul being siphoned off.
In this rather melancholy stanza, Oswald describes the final days of the primrose lifecycle. These final days are metaphors for the final years or even moments of a human’s life. Oswald suggests that, much like the primrose, as we humans approach death, our soul begins to depart from us. Though the lifecycle of the primrose only lasts a month, this month represents the many different seasons of human life. This final season—death—encapsulates the loss of ones’ soul and physical body.
A white-faced hanging-her-head
well-rooted woman used to live here.
Under the hips of the hills
in the arms of the valley.
In this stanza, Oswald evokes the physical attributes of the lily of the valley flower and relies heavily upon it for her personification. Given the lily of the valley’s curvy and round shape, Oswald personifies this flower as an elderly woman. When the narrator calls the flower well-rooted, she means that the flower—the elderly woman—has successfully crafted a full and meaningful life; laid down roots. Much like the lily of the valley flower, this elderly woman has lived through numerous hills and valleys—the positives and negatives of life—and has found herself settled safely between them. This woman, much like the flower, has found genuine contentment with her life.
