Summer for thee, grant I may be 1
When Summer days are flown!
Thy music still, when Whipporwill
And Oriole－are done!
For thee to bloom, I'll skip the tomb 5
And row my blossoms o'er!
Pray gather me－
Anemone－
Thy flower－forevermore!
When Summer days are flown!
Thy music still, when Whipporwill
And Oriole－are done!
For thee to bloom, I'll skip the tomb 5
And row my blossoms o'er!
Pray gather me－
Anemone－
Thy flower－forevermore!
(F.7/J.31)
[1] I:: Adonis, hinted by "me anemone" in line eight.
[2] Summer days are flown:: Venus and Adonis, their good days are gone.
[3] Thy music:: loving words of Aphrodite (Venus). Whippowil:: whip-poor-will, a bird's notes bringing bad omen.
[4] Oriole:: a monogamous bird, having a fixed mate for breeding.
[5] skip the tomb:: to escape death, by turning to anemone for Aphrodite.
[7] gather me:: gather the anemone, the flower of Adonis.
[8] Anemone:: a flower growing after the death of Adonis.
[9] Thy flower:: a flower belongs to Aphrodite.
The anemone is often confounded with the flos Adonis; nor is this surprising; for they both belong to the same Linnaean class and order. Both are fabled to be derived from the youth Adonis, who, being killed while hunting, was changed by Venus into anemone; both the flos Adonis and anemone have their champions. ─ The Garland of Flora (1829)
Why is a certain American bird called the Whip-poor-Will? Because its notes seem pretty plainly to articulate the words whip-poor-will; the first and last syllables being uttered with great emphasis, and the whole in about a second to each repetition; . . . Some of the more ignorant and superstitious consider this near approach as foreboding no good to the family, — nothing less than the sickness, misfortune, or death, of some of its members. ─ Knowledge for the People (1832)