Virginia Lucas Poetry Scrapbook

An Explication of "Hymn to the Flowers"

Ode to the  Flowers by Horace Smith is a nature centric poem about religion. Smith is known for his parody poetry, so the way the poem lends itself to a “parody” of a hymn makes sense. Smith utilizes the elegant language used for nature as a means to carry the poem fluidly. While the poem contains a standard theme and the associated imagery, Smith takes these “standard “ poetic themes and rewrites them in a new way. Smith constructs a hymn-like poem to give hope where hope should remain desolate. God uses the beauty of nature to create a sanctuary no matter the circumstance. Ode to the Flowers rejects the idea that nature is merely a reflection of religion and establishes that religion is rooted within nature.
    The poem tends to follow an iambic rhythm. Each stanza contains three lines in iambic pentameter and a final line which is either in iambic dimeter or anapestic dimeter depending on the stanza. In the first stanza, the first three lines are in iambic pentameter with a tag at the end of each line, and the fourth line in the stanza is an anapest followed by an iamb. In line six, a new trend throughout the poem is started through “Before the uprisen sun, God’s lidless eye”. The second line in each stanza drops the tag at the end of the line. Line eight, “Incense on high”, begins a pattern that remains consistent throughout the fourth line of each stanza for the rest of the poem. Line eight is in iambic dimeter, and the fourth lines in each stanza do not divert from that pattern except for two instances. In line thirty-six, “From lowliest nook”, the rhythm is an iamb followed by an anapest, and in line fifty-six, “And of second birth”, it is an anapest followed by an iamb. The rhyme lends quite a bit to the poem as a whole. The poem follows a quatrain rhyme scheme with no rhymes repeating more than once throughout all sixty lines of the poem. Each stanza is also written with enjambment through each of the for stanzas of the poem with a conclusion to the thought in the fourth line. The aforementioned tag is a feminine rhyme. Feminine rhyme remains consistent through the entirety of the poem. Line two breaks the feminine trend and switches to masculine rhyme. The second line in each stanza remains consistently masculine rhyme. The last line in each stanza is also a masculine rhyme. While the rhymes are in quatrains, the quatrains also follow a feminine, masculine, feminine, masculine scheme. The consistency of the iambic meter and use of feminine rhyme lends itself to the song-like nature of the poem. This calls to mind a hymn a congregation may sing during a church service with the “natural” rhythm and light rhyme scheme.
    A common connection between nature and religion is that nature is a window to the power of religion. The poem shifts the view of nature from a lense to a higher power to being a vessel for the higher power. Smith creates a view on nature that showcases religion being one and living in nature itself. The title Ode to the Flowers clues the reader in on this fact. An ode is traditionally meant to be sung in reverence to the subject of the poem which is nature. The subject would normally be religion with nature added to aid the beauty of faith, but nature is the subject. The poem opens with addressing the beauty of nature and how it can be truly powerful what God is able to do. This first stanza also seems to suggest that nature is so thankful herself to God that she creates offerings through dew drops. The poem shifts to the worshippers who pray and go to services before the sun, or God’s all-seeing eye, has even risen. The poem continues to center nature after a brief glimpse of the worshippers. The beauty of nature that is continuously growing from itself is legendary, and here is an inherent guide that humans can follow in nature. The flowers are compared to church bells, and whenever the wind breezes through the flower, it is a call to prayer. That call to prayer will remain consistent. The work of the mortal hand “crumbling arch and column” (17) will always be temporary, so how could it be a true vehicle for God’s word as opposed to the immortality in nature and the flowers. God speaks through nature and utilizes nature as a means to continue spreading the Word instead of a finite human. No matter who it is, nature will be able to spread God’s word, believer or not. God knows no bounds, so they utilize the one thing they created that also knows no bounds, nature and flowers. As one walks through the beauty of nature, they should be quieted by the teachings of God that come through because God surrounds them. The flowers are the best example of this vehicle of religion. The flowers are shameless, and humans should learn from them. They are the true preachers of God’s word since they are in direct contact with God. Even the smallest of flowers has a story to tell that supplied themself. A true believer is able to hear the teachings of the flowers. Even if a person finds themselves in a place that rejects Christianity and religion as a whole. There is still a chance to worship and learn. Flowers are the preachers that can always be leaned on. 
    Smith utilizes the holiest of language to highlight the flower and present them with this ode. When thinking of the subject of an ode, one may think of the lover of the writer or something highly revered. The flowers are given the ode to praise the unspoken work they do for believers around the world. The hymn-like nature of the poem lends itself to the beauty and reverence that lies within traditional church songs. The final stanza reads:
    Were I Oh God in churchless lands remaining
      Far from all voice of teachers or divines
My soul should find in flowers of thy ordaining
                  Priests, sermons, shrines.” (57-60)
This stanza solidifies the fact that Smith wants people to see that even in desolate lands believers can find the church’s leaders to teach them. 
The reader may ask themselves why Smith would choose to use flowers as the vehicle for religious teachings. Flowers are revered for their beauty. While nature is usually taken as the vessel through which God is able to show his followers his abilities, Smith changes this rhetoric a bit. Flowers become the vehicle for God’s teachings. Smith’s Ode to the Flowers gives hope to those who may find themselves in lonely times in their lives. Whether a priest is accessible or not, the flowers will still remain to provide God’s word.
    While no formal hymn form is used in Ode to the Flowers, the meter and rhymes used provide a musicality that would not be as apparent if only masculine rhyme, for example, were used through the poem. The idea that even in the most isolating moments there can be comfort in the teachings of God through flowers is not common. Followers of God are taught to find solace in prayer and talking to God and not expecting immediate response, but the flowers provide immediate relief and response from God. Ode to the Flowers provides comfort to those who are in need for immediate relief and find God has that comfort. Utilizing flowers as an essential means of communication between God and his followers in lieu of priests once a week at service presents followers with comfort that the word being spoken may not be skewed and will be available at all times of their lives.