"Song" by Edmund Waller

Author Bio:

Edmund Waller was a an English, poet, politician, and member of parliament during the political turmoil of the 1640's. But when he plotted to secure London for a King in 1643, he was fined and exiled. During this time, he wrote poems while he traveled to Paris, Italy, and Switzerland.



Go, lovely rose--
Tell her that wastes her time and me,
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be.

Tell her that's young,
And shuns to have her graces spied,
That hadst thou sprung
In deserts where no men abide,
Thou must have uncommended died.

Small is the worth
Of beauty from the light retired:
Bid her come forth,
Suffer herself to be desired,
And not blush so to be admired.

Then die!-- that she
The common fate of all things rare
May read in thee;
How small a part of time they share
That are so wondrous sweet and fair!


Analysis:

Edmund Waller's poem, "Song," is about a man sending a single  rose to a woman. This is an interesting poem because instead of writing a card to the woman to convey what he wants to say to her, the speaker is telling the rose what to represent. Therefore, the rose serves as a very important and complex symbol. Roses can convey many different meanings. They are given on Valentine's day to say "I love you," given to a sick friend to brighten their day, or given at funerals to console those who are grieving the loss of a loved one. They are a special symbol that represents what the giver wants to say to the receiver. In this poem, the speaker is sending the symbolic rose to a woman whom he wishes to date, but she feels insecure about herself and their possible relationship. We know this because the speaker addresses many doubts the woman has, and then uses the rose to try to make them go away. His first reason that he sends the flower is so that she will know "how sweet and fair she seems to be" when he compares her beauty to a rose. He goes on to make the rose "tell her she's young" and she should accept the speaker as a suitor. In the third stanza, the speaker explains that her beauty has little worth if she keeps it hidden. In the final stanza,  he tells the rose to die! I found this very interesting because although people who give flowers know that they will eventually wither and wilt, I have never encountered someone who looks forward to their gift dying out! But, the speaker has his reasons. When the rose dies,  he knows that the woman will analyze the death and come to the realization that nothing can stay young and beautiful forever. The speaker uses this final symbol of death to drive home his point of why the woman should allow him to pursue her in dating.