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They swing from the garden-trellis
In Ariel-airy ease;
And their aromatic honey
Is sought by the earliest bees.
The rose, it knows their secret,
And the jessamine also knows;
And the rose told me the story
That the jessamine told the rose.
And the jessamine said: “At midnight,
Ere the red cock woke and crew,
The fays of Queen Titania
Came here to bathe in the dew.
“And the yellow moonlight glistened
On braids of elfin hair;
And fairy feet on the flowers
Fell softer than any air.
“And their petticoats, gay as bubbles,
They hung up, every one,
On the morning-glory’s tendrils.
Till their moonlight bath was done.
“And the red cock crew too early,
And the fairies fled in fear,
Leaving their petticoats, purple and pink
Like blossoms hanging here.”
( Madison Cawein )
Madison Cawein (1865-1915) was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and received his education in the public schools. In 1887 he published his first poems in a book called Blooms of the Berry. In most of his poems, Nature is the theme. He spent his life learning her ways and describing them in poetry full of rich imagery. Cawein is often called “the Keats of Kentucky,” because of the resemblance of his verses to those of the great English poet.
Ar iel-airy : with the light movements of Ariel, Spirit of the Air in Shakespeare’s The Tempest
aromatic : fragrant, strong-scented
fay : fairy
elfi : fairy
Answer the following questions.
1) What is the name of the first flower mentione
2) Why do you think the poet didn’t mention the flower earlier n the poem?
3) Who told the poet the story?
4) How can you learn about these flowers as this poet did
5) What other poems have you read in which the poet talks about a bird or a flower