The Cycle of Life
In “Primrose,” the narrator describes the lifecycle of a primrose plant, detailing its first, budding entrance into the world, and concluding with its gentle, wilting death from it. Though the primrose has a lifecycle that only lasts one month—through the month of April—this cycle is a metaphor for the cycle of life that humans go through as well. The primrose experiences birth, adolescence, middle age, and then death. It transitions through each stage, much as humans would and then, once it has reached the end of its cycle, it wilts, accepts its inevitable demise, and then gladly succumbs to death. In this way, “Primrose” is a metaphor for the transitions of life. As humans, we are born into this world and—after transitioning through the youthful spoils of adolescence and into the rigor of adulthood, we also will eventually succumb to the inevitability of death.
Vanity
Oswald uses her poem “Narcissus” to re-imagine the famed Greek moral tale as it would pertain to a flower. In the original Greek myth, Narcissus is a beautiful, but vain and contemptuous young man. He is cursed to fall in love with his reflection. Consumed by his anger that he cannot marry nor fall in love with himself, he eventually commits suicide to end his torturous existence. In this poem, Oswald represents the final half of Narcissus’ life, during which he is agonizing over his inability to fall in love with his reflection. Though Oswald does not specify what type of flower is being used to metaphorize Narcissus, she describes how the flower, which is planted on the bed of a river, is slowly dying and wilting out of existence, as its only view is of its reflection in the river. In this way, Oswald uses this poem to contribute to a commentary on vanity and the pitfalls of glorifying one’s own existence.
Humanity’s Connection to Nature
Each of Oswald’s poems personifies a flower in relation to a specific human experience or emotion. In doing so, Oswald draws an intrinsic parallel between nature and humanity; she intimates that the two are fundamentally connected and are, perhaps, one in the same. In each poem, Oswald chooses her flowers carefully. In “Lily of the Valley,” for example, she chooses a flower that is known for its distinctive curvy shape and white pale color. Oswald uses this physical characteristic to personify the flower as an elderly woman, with white hair who is nearing the end of her life and is content with the roots she has laid. In this way, Oswald is very purposeful in her choices for each poem and she uses these distinctive choices to show how, much like humans, each flower has its own personality and physical characteristics.
