The poem “Ah! Sun-Flower” by William Blake is both beautiful to the
eyes and pleasant to the ears. However,
its content entails much more than the name suggests. After closely reading the
poem, one learns that Blake’s intentions lie far into the depths of human
thought of the afterlife. Specifically, Blake addresses who reaches the superior
realm of existence after death. Although
it remains unnamed throughout the piece, this higher plane is characterized by
Blake as a positive place of light and timelessness. Through contrasting symbols of innocence and
experience, Blake is able to show that it is the former that is closer to this
higher realm of existence.
In the first stanza of the poem, Blake presents the features that
embody this higher level of life. Through the use of end rhyme, Blake determines
that this is a place mainly of timelessness and light. By rhyming alternating lines, the words
“time” and “clime” as well as the words “Sun” and “done” are paired and thus
related to one another (1- 4). The first
pair of words expresses that the “clime,” or atmosphere of this other realm is
characterized by timelessness (3). This
is because the word “time” is used in the phrase “weary of time,” suggesting a
want for eternity (1). Therefore, the
pairing of the two words suggests an atmosphere of perpetuity. The next pair, “Sun” and “done,” indicate
that this realm is a place of light (2, 4).
Within the poem, “done” refers to the higher plane of the afterlife because
it is where the “travellers journey” ends (4).
The traveler is called so because of his voyage from the current plane
of existence to the subsequent higher plane.
The traveler’s voyage is “done” when he or she reaches this greater
level of existence (Blake 4). The “Sun,”
which exudes an enormous amount of light, exemplifies the illumination of the
higher plane because it is used in conjunction with the word “done” (2, 4).
Through the use of imagery, Blake further develops the realm’s
luminous qualities as well as introduces its positive attributes. Specifically, these aspects are represented
by the image of the “sweet, golden clime” in reference to the higher realm’s
environment (3). Both the words
describing the atmosphere, “sweet” and “golden,” carry blissful connotations
(3). The word “sweet” suggests that this
is a place superior to Earth, since the Earth is a place of both sweetness and
bitterness (3). The word “golden”
implies that the higher plane is worthy of praise, as anything associated with
the word gold is highly valued (3).
However, this word also carries with it a sense of light or
brightness. The color of gold is
comparable to the color of the light of the sun mentioned earlier. Thus the gold further illuminates the
atmosphere. While this eternal plane of
light and bliss sounds appealing to all, it is only some who will reach its
gates.
Once establishing a description of this greater realm, Blake
symbolically introduces the innocence of life. Blake presents innocence through the use of the
“Youth” and the “Virgin” (5-6). By nature, both innocents lack age and the
experience associated with age. Although
the youth is languished “with desire” and the virgin is “shrouded in snow,”
neither will act on their instincts because of theses two factors (5-6). Their naïveté blinds them to the bitter side
of life gained from experience while their youth shields them from the grueling
affects of time and old age. Upon their
deaths, the youth and the virgin “arise from their graves and aspire” for the
described higher realm (7). The phrase
“arise from their graves” suggests that the two innocents have died, although
they are not on the same journey that the traveler is on (7). The two innocents still “aspire,” or search
for this higher level of existence even though they have passed from life to
death (7). Therefore, even with the
touch of death, the innocents cannot reach the higher plane.
In contrast to the “Youth” and the “Virgin”, Blake establishes that
the “Sun-flower” is symbolic of human experience (1, 5 - 6). While the youth and the virgin are human in
nature, the sunflower is not. However,
Blake personifies the flower to create a closer relationship between the
sunflower and humanity. In the first
line of the poem, the sunflower is paired with the word “weary” (1). This word personifies the sunflower by giving
it a human emotion. In the next line of
the piece, Blake uses the pronoun “who” in reference to the sunflower (2). The two words in combination elucidate the
flower’s relationship to mankind. In addition,
the sunflower’s name suggests an innate closeness with the “Sun” beyond the
capabilities of the innocents (2). The
“Sun,” which is a part of the higher plane, is directly contained in the
sunflower’s name (2).
Throughout the poem, Blake establishes both that the sunflower represents
those who are experienced in life and that it is closer to the higher realm by
more than its name suggests. Blake
initially introduces the flower as being “weary of time” (1). This implies that
the sun-flower has lived for a long time and has gained the experience acquired
through life and its events. In feeling
exhausted by time, the sunflower yearns for timelessness. The sunflower is also “seeking” after the “sweet”
atmosphere of the higher realm of existence (3). Since the sunflower is experienced, it has
lived through both the positive and negative aspects of life. As a result, the Earth seems bitter and the
sunflower yearns for a place only of sweetness.
Not only does the sunflower yearn for blissful eternity, it also
“countest the steps to the Sun” (2). The
word “countest” both accentuates the sunflower’s exhaustion as well as implies
that the sunflower is waiting to reach this higher realm (2). In counting the steps to the sun, the
sunflower is quantifying how much further it has to go until he reaches the
sun, or the other realm of which it is associated with.
The sunflower is experienced; it has lived through both the positive
and negative aspects of life. This is
primarily because the sunflower has lived for a long amount of time. As a result, it has nothing further to
experience on the Earth. This is in
contrast to the innocents. The innocents
have lived only for a short amount of time, encountering only the positive side
of life. The youth and the virgin
continue to search for the higher realm even after death because they have died
in their youth and innocence. In doing
so, they lack the experience of life and the knowledge of time. The sunflower, who has been subjected to both
innocence and experience, is weary of time because it is simply waiting to travel
on its journey to eternity. By
presenting the opposing entities in the different states of life (the innocence
in death and the experience in life), Blake is claiming that it is only after
both innocence and experience that one can reach the higher plane of existence.
Blake forms the true meaning of the
piece by juxtaposing images of innocence with experience. He creates the idea that the experienced being
will eventually reach the desired destination because of his or her time spent
on Earth and the experience gained in the process. The innocents unfortunately share a less pleasing
fate due to their lack of age and experience.
In asserting this bold statement about life and death, Blake addresses a
question that has plagued man for almost all of time: Who will reach the utopia of the
afterlife? Straying from the typical
determinant of this question as a battle of good versus evil, Blake states his
claim in terms of the contrasting states of the soul known as innocence and
experience.
Works Cited
Blake,
William. “Ah! Sun-flower.” Songs of Innocence and Experience. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1967.
43.
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