The ‘Imperfect’ Rose

H.D.’s poem, “Sea Rose” and Arianna Puente’s “The Rose and the Poppy” both have their unique ways of demonstrating the traditional symbol of the rose, by including certain figurative language like imagery and descriptive adjectives, however from comparing and contrasting both. I believe H. D’s poem is more effective in challenging the traditional symbol of the rose than Puente’s.

Both poems mention a ‘rose’ in their titles, “The Rose and The Poppy” and “Sea Rose”, they even begin their poems by referring to a ‘rose’ as well. What is different though is the way the rose is mentioned throughout both poems. Traditionally, a red rose symbolizes love, passion, and romance. H.D. states it as a “Rose, harsh rose, marred and with a stint of petals, meager flower, thin, sparse of leaf,” (H.D., Line 1-4). From the detailed adjectives and speck of imagery given like, “thin”, “marred and a stint of petals”, “harsh rose”, and “sparse of the leaf”, I conveyed that the rose wasn’t the “traditional” rose, specifically because of its physical appearance. It’s not healthy, though no pigmentation or color is disclosed, it can be assured that it’s a wilting rose being vividly described. How does this prove H.D.’s poem is more effective though? Well, H.D. continues by stating, “more precious than a wet rose single on a stem—” (H.D., Line 5 – 7) It seems as though the speaker has some admiration towards this dying rose. Even if it’s wilted it’s still beautiful, more beautiful than one that is well and alive.

This statement is more evident when the speaker quotes, “Can the spice-rose drip such acrid fragrance hardened in a leaf?” (H.D. Lines 14-16). From reading this I got a defensive tone from the speaker. It sounds like he/she is defending the rose as if he/she is stating, “So what if it’s dying? At least its fragrance is stronger than a healthy rose.” What about the fragrance though? Thinking outside of the box, from my knowledge, dry roses are more likely to hold a stronger fragrance than roses that are lively. Rose petals are dried purposely and blended into powder because of their color and fragrance. How is quick input relevant to H. D’s poem though? Well, it further proves that even beyond a rose’s death, it can provide many uses and benefits, it’s quite valuable. This is where the speaker challenges the traditional symbol of the rose. It’s not a soft-petaled, bright, healthy rose, however, it still holds value, value that a lively rose may not be able to give or provide.

   On the other hand, Puente, though she mentions a ‘rose’ as well, does not have it as a main symbol or main vehicle in her poem unlike H.D. This is where her lack of effectiveness lies. She first starts by stating, “I am not a ravishing ruby red, or a semblance of purity white.” (Puente, Line 1-3). She includes imagery and alliteration, mentioning the rose’s colors, “ravishing ruby red” and “semblance of purity white.”. It seems she does start off strongly referring to a traditional rose by providing certain terms connected to it, like a “token of comfort” (Puente, Line 5), “romance” (Puente, Line 6), and “Valentine’s Day” (Puente, Line 19) however, her poem takes a twist when she states, “I am wild in the fields of green and blues. Electric orange- like tangerines in an orchard of trees, my skin’s perfume meshed in the summer breeze.” (Puente, Lines 12-16). From the depictive adjectives, “fields of green and blues”, “Electric orange”, and “Tangerines”, it makes it evident that the speaker is not being expressive about a rose after all, she’s regarding a California poppy flower. This diminishes the effectiveness of challenging the traditional symbol of the rose since it demonstrates that’s not the main context in her poem. Puente does not challenge the symbolism of a traditional rose, she goes along with it, the speaker only states that individually she is not a rose, she is more of a poppy. This is why I believe H.D.’s “Sea Rose” was the most effective in challenging the traditional symbol of the rose than Adrianna Puente’s “The Rose and The Poppy”. His poem stays relevant with just a rose, it deflects on the physical appearance of a traditional one, and his poem completely challenges the conventional, idealistic perspective of a traditional rose.

La Vie N’est Pas Rose

In both the poems assigned today, Sea Rose by H. D. and The Rose & The Poppy by Adrianna Puente, the traditional image/ideas of the rose are completely torn apart and questioned. Th tradition images of a rose include romanticism, lust, passion, love, beauty, desire, atraction; the rose is associated with so many positives by society that many people don’t see the negative stigma that can also be imposed by roses, these two poets describe and show just that, the fact that roses have been made up by society to represent all these good thing, but ae all those representation accurate and do they hold true? The poems Sea Rose and The Rose & The Poppy share similar ideas about the rose and in their own way tear the traditional meaning apart.

In the poem Sea Rose by H. D. we don’t sea any specific rhyming scheme being used and we can clarify this poem as free verse. However we can see that the tenor in this poem is the sea rose and the vehicle is I, as in the person in the poem, metaphors, enjambment, and imagery in order to help get the meaning across of the poet that the wilted, sea affected rose, is just as beautiful and interesting, if not more interesting, than the standard rose. Throughout the poem, such as in the first stanza we can see enjambment as there is no specific set up for the lines, the lines don’t stop in a specific place e instead they are doing their own thing only spectated by the commas but we never get to see a full sentence or the capitalization of a word as we move to next line in a stanza. The whole poem can be characterized by a metaphor as it compares the sea rose to a person, setting apart its imperfection such as “harsh rose, marred and with stint of petals, meagre flower, thin, sparse of leaf” then it goes on to say “Stunted, with small leaf, you are flung on the sand.” The poem uses this allude and compare the sea rose to a person who has flaws and isn’t necessarily up to the standards of society. The imagery in the poem also helps emphasize the message then poet, with the first stanza describing the sea rose as “Rose, harsh rose, marred and with stint of petals, meagre flower, thin, sparse of leaf” and the last stanza questioning if the spice rose(the tradition ‘beautiful’ rose) “Can the spice-rose drip such acrid fragrance hardened in a leaf?” This imagery of the two roses helps us better understand teh difference between the two roses.

In the poem The Rose & The Poppy by Adrianna similarly explaimns the rose in comparison to the person. She starts the poem by saying ” I am not a ravishing ruby red, or a semblance of purity white” in this case is is stating that she is not a rose but instead she uses a poppy to compare to the rose and explain that in society the poppy and the rose do not have the sam implications, yet in reality they are both flowers and teh only true difference is the meaning that they have been given by society. She states “Not the flower you give to a lover, or a token of comfort you give to a friend in the hospital. Nor am I a symbol of romance” the traditional symbols and imagery that are given to a rose are not given to a poppy. She later in the poem goes on to reflect on teh fact that although she is not a rose she is unique and special, “Most times I am forgotten.Rarely chosen foreager hands on Valentine’s day-but I am my own.” She ends the poem by remind the reader “we each wilt-between dried petals-scenting rooms with our fragrance. Rotting into umber.” This parrelles people, although someone might not fit the standards athat are deemed as desirable in a society they are still a person unique and wonderful, with qualities that make them special, just like the poppy is in compassion to the rose. Both of these poem compass the idea that society ideals and standards do not define a thing, the thing defines itself.

Guadalupe Lemus

The Modern Rose

The rose, a symbol of romance, love, sensuality, and fragility, is often associated with the romantic era or light-hearted holidays such as Valentine’s day. When I picture a rose in my head, I think of a bright, colorful, and extravagant flower that you would give to a significant other or find displayed at a flower shop. H. D. and Adrianna Puente, however, take this preconceived image of a rose and drastically morph the meaning of roses into something darker, imperfect, and more human. Although both poets manage to successfully change the symbolism associated with the rose, I feel that H.D. has a more interesting, unique, and thorough symbolic shift of the rose than Puente.

Let’s first look at Adriana Puente’s poem, The Rose and The Poppy. The poem begins immediately with a reference to traditional images associated with the rose: “I am/ not a ravishing ruby red … Not the flower you give to a lover, … Nor am I a symbol of romance”. These three lines in the first stanza are a direct acknowledgement of the traditional symbols of the rose (red, love, romance). The speaker, personifying themselves in the form of the “rose”, is stating that they recognize what a rose symbolizes and telling the reader that they are none of those things at all. Instead, Puente makes it clear that the speaker is the opposite: “I am/ wild in fields of green and blues./ Electric orange-/ like tangerines in a orchard of trees,”. This imagery of the “rose” not being traditionally red, but instead a myriad of colors gives the impression of something more natural, with emphasis to the word “wild” in this stanza. This is essentially saying that the typical romantic rose are domesticated and uniform and not unique. However, the true beauty comes from these wild flowers that are imperfect but free, unlike the rose.

I think the final line of this poem sums it up best, with “Rotting into umber.” Umber, a reddish brown color, seems to come in contrast with the typical vibrant potpourri that one would normally find. Instead, these wild flowers live their lives, wilt, and then fade away, returning to the soil. In a way, it is a commentary on cultural uniformity with the rose as it’s centerpiece. However, I do find that this detachment of the symbols of the rose relies too heavily on the preconceived images associated with the flower, especially in the first stanza. It’s a little on the nose at time, stating that I am everything that a rose isn’t, but overall still very successful in transforming the symbols of a rose.

Let’s put this in contrast with H. D.’s poem, Sea Rose. This poem uses the rose differently than Puente’s poem. Instead of saying that the rose is everything but the traditional symbols a rose represents, H. D. prefers to attach negative adjectives and imagery to the rose, giving the reader a vivid image of a wilted and broken rose: “harsh rose,/ marred and with stint of petals,/ meagre flower, thin,/ sparse of leaf,”. Words like harsh, stint, meagre, thin, and sparse are all being used to describe this flower, quite the juxtaposition from the typical adjectives used to describe roses. These negative adjectives persist throughout the entire poem, with words such as “stunted” and “acrid” as well, really creating vivid imagery of a rose that is anything but what you usually consider a rose. This greatly reflects the time era that this poem was written, given that H. D. wrote this poem in the modernity era, which was a critique of the romantic period before it. This period consisted of the search for meaning in the modern age of the industrial revolution and the individualistic culture that permeated the time. Similar to Puente’s poem, the rose in Sea Rose seems to be a personification of something, in this case the romantic period. During the romantic period, the rose was a symbol of the idealist and flowery life that poets portrayed in that era, where everything was bright, colorful, and perfect.

But this rose isn’t perfect.

This rose is harsh, thin, has sparse leaves, and is full of imperfections. Unlike it’s perfect and ideal counterpart in the romantic age, this rose has seen and lived through the harsh reality of life, yet is more precious because of that realism in the mind of the speaker. This rose is “caught in the drift” of the absurdity and isolation of modernity, wandering through time and looking for meaning, just like poets were at the time. In a way, this rose reflects the shambling of romantic poetry after the industrial revolution, where the idealist world crumbled away and was left searching for meaning like everyone else. Yet this rose is more real than the ideal and perfect rose often symbolized in poetry. It has imperfections and scars and flung left and right across the sands, yet it is more precious because it is more real to the human condition than the ideal rose of the modern era.

The rose in Sea Rose does more than just simply becoming an antithetical foil to the traditional symbols of the rose. It evokes the emotions of pain, of hardness, of the drifting search for meaning, and of what it means to be human. It sheds away all of the idealistic and flowery imagery synonymous with the rose and instead replaces it with the realities of the modern life. Because of this juxtaposition, the rose in Sea Rose becomes far more successful in challenging the traditional symbol of the rose.

Sky Miller