Flowers of Gold explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Beauty and Aesthetics

  The poems celebrate visual and sensory beauty, from the 'ivory hands on the ivory keys' to the 'crimson in the dawning light' of the oleander.

• Transience and Mortality

  Recurring motifs of death, decay, and the fleeting nature of life, as in 'The Grave of Keats' and 'The Dole of the King's Daughter'.

• Classical Mythology and Antiquity

  Heavy use of Greek and Roman myths, including references to Persephone, Daphnis, Amaryllis, and the gods in 'Santa Decca'.

Characters to notice

• Keats

  Honored in 'The Grave of Keats' as a martyred poet resting beneath God's veil of blue.

• Persephone

  Addressed as 'Singer of Persephone' in 'Theocritus', evoking the myth of the underworld.

• Daphnis

  Mentioned in 'Theocritus' as a young shepherd in boyish rivalry.

• Amaryllis

  Referenced in 'Theocritus' as lying in state among the ivy.

• Old Jeannette

  Appears in 'Ballade de Marguerite' as a figure who dies at the autumn fall.

• Beatricé

  Appears in 'A Vision' as the guide who identifies the three tragic poets.

Key passages

• “Rid of the world’s injustice, and his pain, He rests at last beneath God’s veil of blue”

  Freed from earthly suffering, Keats now lies peacefully under the sky.

  From 'The Grave of Keats', expressing the poet's final repose.

• “The Gods are dead: no longer do we bring To grey-eyed Pallas crowns of olive-leaves!”

  The ancient gods are gone, and we no longer honor Athena with olive wreaths.

  From 'Santa Decca', marking the decline of pagan worship.

• “O singer of Persephone! In the dim meadows desolate Dost thou remember Sicily?”

  O poet who sings of Persephone, do you recall the desolate fields of Sicily?

  From 'Theocritus', invoking the pastoral and mythological past.