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"Flower in the Crannied Wall" is a poem composed by
Alfred Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
in 1863 beside the wishing well at
Waggoners Wells Ludshott Common and Waggoners Wells (the latter sometimes written with an apostrophe: Waggoners' Wells) is a National Trust reserve; Ludshott Common is an area of heathland and Waggoners Wells a series of man-made ponds with a connecting stream. The ...
. The poem uses the image of a flowering plant - specifically that of a
chasmophyte
This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...
rooted in the wall of the wishing well - as a source of inspiration for
mystical
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
/
metaphysical
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
speculation and is one of multiple poems where Tennyson touches upon the topic of the relationships between God, nature, and human life.
The Tennyson memorial statue was completed in 1903 by
George Frederic Watts
George Frederic Watts (23 February 1817, in London – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things." Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical work ...
and unveiled in 1905
at
Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln and sometimes St Mary's Cathedral, in Lincoln, England, is a Grade I listed cathedral and is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. Constructio ...
, shows Tennyson holding a flower in his hand standing alongside a dog. Underneath, on the pedestal of the statue, lies a plaque of the poem. Since the statue was unveiled in 1905, there has been concerns over discoloration and disintegration. A commissioned firm specializing in bronze restoration then expressed its view that the statue appears similar to when it was first unveiled.
Text
Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower—but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.
Structure
In terms of stresses, the poem follows an
accentual meter where the organization of the poem relied on the "count of stresses, not by count of syllables". The pattern for the number of stresses in this poem is 3-3-4-4-4-3.
Flow-er in the cran-nied wall,
I pluck you out of the cran-nies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flow-er—but if I could un-der-stand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.
The poem also follows an ABCCAB
rhyme scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.
An example of the ABAB rh ...
. There are also 2 instances of a
feminine ending found in the second and last line.
Parallel in an earlier work by William Blake
A previous exploration of the theme of a mystical
epiphany
Epiphany may refer to:
* Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight
Religion
* Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ
** Epiphany season, or Epiph ...
of the divine
macrocosm apprehended through the microcosm may be found in the oft-quoted first four lines of the poem
Auguries of Innocence
"Auguries of Innocence" is a poem by William Blake, from a notebook of his now known as the Pickering Manuscript.Encyclopædia Britannica Online.The Pickering Manuscript" Online. Accessed 13 December 2010. It is assumed to have been written in 1 ...
, composed by
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
(1757 –1827) in the year 1803, but remaining unpublished until 1863 - the very year of Tennyson’s composition of Flower in the Crannied Wall.
To see the world in a grain of sand
And heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
in a wild flower
Hold infinity
Infinity is that which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is often denoted by the infinity symbol .
Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the philosophical nature of infinity was the subject of many discussions amo ...
in the palm of your hand
And eternity
Eternity, in common parlance, means Infinity, infinite time that never ends or the quality, condition, or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas ...
in an hour.
Reception
In literature
The phrase ''flower in the crannied wall'' is sometimes used in a metaphorical sense for the idea of seeking holistic and grander principles from constituent parts and their connections. The poem can be interpreted as Tennyson’s perspective on the connection between God and Nature. English critic
Theodore Watts characterized Tennyson as a "nature poet."
Fredric Myers described Tennyson as incorporating the “interpenetration of the spiritual and material worlds" into his literary works.
In science
Scientists have also mentioned and drawn their own interpretations of the poem. In his book ''Through Nature to God'', evolutionist John Fiske describes the flower as an “elementary principle” that is both “simple and broad.” According to Fiske, all living things "represents the continuous adjustment of inner to outer relations". The flower mentioned by Tennyson is a plant consisting of complex systems that regulates its "relations within" itself and its "relations existing outside" itself. Further understanding these complex systems scientifically can reveal the "mysteries of Nature." Others including Theodore Soares, the then department head from the University of Chicago, also viewed Tennyson as "one of the earliest of the spiritual interpreters of life" who saw the impacts of science with macroscopic lenses.
Amos Avery, Sophia (Sophie) Satina and Jacob Rietsema use the poem as the
epigraph of ''Blakeslee: the genus
Datura
''Datura'' is a genus of nine species of highly poisonous, vespertine-flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family Solanaceae. They are commonly known as thornapples or jimsonweeds, but are also known as devil's trumpets (not to be conf ...
'', their work of botany and plant genetics devoted to the poisonous and
entheogenic
Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood (psychology), mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwiseRätsch, Christian, ''The Encyclop ...
jimsonweed genus of the plant family
Solanaceae
The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orn ...
, so named in honour of pioneering plant geneticist
Albert Francis Blakeslee
Albert Francis Blakeslee (November 9, 1874 – November 16, 1954) was an American botanist. He is best known for his research on the poisonous jimsonweed plant and the sexuality of fungi. He was the brother of the Far East scholar George Hubbard B ...
.
[1959 Avery, Amos Geer, Satina, Sophie and Rietsema, Jacob ''Blakeslee: the genus Datura'', foreword and biographical sketch by Edmund W. Sinnott, pub. New York : Ronald Press Co.]
References
{{Wikisource, Flower in the Crannied Wall
Poetry by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1863 poems