2/7/2019
“The Gardenia” – Cornelius Eady
A line in the opening stanza says “you can never take / That flower from Billie’s hair”, and leads the reader from the start to infer that the poem will be pertaining to time and the loss of it.
Many lines could have dual meanings depending on how you take the poem as a whole, and when it comes to “the sediment in her throat”, I questioned whether this image was a metaphor for not being able to speak or find the right words (ex. “cat got your tongue”). Alternatively, the poem may hint at darker meanings, in which case it may refer to literally being buried alive.
The final couplet wraps up the piece nicely, stating “That’s the soil those petals spring from, / Like a fist, if a fist could sing.” The meaning of this summation describes the fact that sometimes beauty can come out of a more negative scenario. These soil that these “petals spring from” is in fact “the sediment in her throat”, and they are related to fists of the singing variety.
I chose this poem to analyze partly because I realized after some time that it happened to be in sonnet format. This was very interesting as it is rare to find a piece about modern issues written in a historic fashion. While it composed in 4/4/4/2 stanza format, there is no clear rhyme scheme, and therefore cannot be easily compared to Shakespearean or Petrarchan styles.
All in all, I found this to be a very interesting poem, yet I admit to not understanding it meaning in any reasonable sense. Personally, it comes off as a testimonial to time that is gone and unrecoverable, and the good things that can spring from bad situations, but I do not think these topics are in line with the usual writings of Cornelius Eady.
Earl's Poetry Analysis 