Daisies: Personification, Meter, and Modality
Poetry · Work by Athena.
Daisies
Daisies busy impressing the sun,
Smiling their gold until the day is done.
Come winter when all is chill,
Daisies to their brightest white will.
Coda — surgeon fragment
Surgeon — come to life.
Big dreams will last forever,
for them to survive.
Photo: Jonathan Borba / Pexels
Poetry and florals are peas in a pod. Students first engaging poetic expression are encouraged to reference a known beauty. This provides sure footing for a unique perspective to be interwoven. Here, Athena — who loves all things bright and summery — began with her favourite flower, a daisy.
However, we steered away from a physical description and brought to the fore the metaphorical moment. In this, Athena separated the central golden disk and the white petals across stanzas. She conveyed her interpretation that daisies possess an enduring purity with an excellent and sensitive meter, and sustained personification.
In a subsequent lesson, we returned to the fan-favourite: Haiku. Athena's dream of becoming a doctor (a cardiovascular surgeon!) was the compass. Encouraging her to continue the grammatical manipulation in her last effort, she delivered an exemplary piece that reckoned the workload pursuing a grand dream, and the rewards returned to society.
— Callum