Ah! Sunflower

Ah! Sunflower 

By William Blake

 

Ah! sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done;

 

Where the youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves and aspire;
Where my sunflower wishes to go.

About the Poem

 

‘Ah! Sun-flower’ by William Blake is a multi-layered poem that depicts a weary sunflower, tired from counting the sun’s progress. Despite seeming quite simple, this poem is fairly complicated. There are numerous different possible readings, and it is likely that most readers will come away with different interpretations of what the sunflower is supposed to represent. In the second stanza, after explaining that the sunflower is “weary of time,” the speaker says that it wants to join the “Youth” and the “Virgin” in what is presumably Heaven.

 

Blake's mysterious "Ah! Sun-flower" suggests that life itself is a state of longing. The poem’s image of a sunflower reaching towards the light and warmth of the sun evokes the human longing to be reunited with God in heaven. In this interpretation of the poem, life on earth is a journey back to God’s loving embrace.

 

 

About the Poet

 

William Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757, to James, a hosier, and Catherine Blake. Two of his six siblings died in infancy. From early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions—at four he saw God "put his head to the window"; around age nine, while walking through the countryside, he saw a tree filled with angels.