For the poems we have for tomorrow, one, in particular, caught my attention: “Tri-colour” by Robert Service. Not knowing if we will talk about it tomorrow, and also knowing myself and the high probability that I will forget by the time tomorrow comes, I thought I would put a little something here on the blog.
I am hugely into the symbolism of flowers and elements in literary works! Every element and every flower has a meaning and I think that poets and writers know this too and pick which ones they use very meticulously.
In “Tri-colour” we get the poppies, the cornflowers, and the lilies.
We’ve talked about poppies before and how they are symbolic of the war. Jordan even made a separate blog post earlier in the semester about the art installation of poppies (which I conveniently linked here, 
so if you haven’t seen it, go look at it!) I’m sure you all know what a poppy looks like but here is a picture just in case. It is obvious why Service uses the poppies as the soldier’s blood. Poppies are symbolic of sleep, especially deep sleep, which if any of you have seen the Wizard of Oz you should be familiar with the poppy field scene. Poppies, because of both WWI and WWII are now considered the flower of death and remembrance. Also, poppies have a meaning of innocence and peace within death which is why poppies use to be used at funerals, including funerals for soldiers.
Then there are the cornflowers. I love cornflowers! They are these really cool blue-purple flowers that remind me of the flowers in Horton Hears A Who (yes I know it is actually a clover, 
but it’s all the same). Many people will recognize cornflowers from the sides of country roads or in wildflower fields. Cornflowers are one of the national flowers of Germany, which if you think about Germany in the context of the war is kind of crazy. While the meaning of cornflowers don’t really line up with how I think they are being used in this poem, it is still super interesting. Cornflowers are the flowers of wealth, prosperity, fortune, friendship, but in France, cornflowers became the symbol for the Armistice.
Next are lilies. Now, the thing with flowers is each color, 
or variant, of them, stand for something else and lilies come in different colors. So white lilies symbolize purity and chastity and are linked to the Virgin Mary, while other’s are linked to friendship, devotion, sympathy, wealth and prosperity. While the poem never specifies which color of lily is being talked there is a generic symbol for restored innocence after death, which is why lilies are known as a funeral flower.
I find it super interesting how each of the flowers relates to death in some way, how even the shapes and colors of them are used as images of dead men. The poppies as the blood, the cornflowers as eyeballs which I don’t think I can ever unsee now, and lilies as headstones.
We often think of flowers as pretty plants that fill up grass and gardens, but you’re right: they are symbolic and carry many different meanings to people. I’m also all for making flowers symbolic in literature and poetry; it adds depth to the text’s message and themes. One representation of flowers in literature that means a lot to me was how Miri from “Princess Academy” (Shannon Hale) got her name. In that world, the “miri” flower rose through large beds of mountain rock to meet the sun and was notable for its beauty. Even though “Princess Academy” is not a WWI novel, Miri still has to face a lot of tough experiences in order to be successful like the soldiers in the poems and novels we’re reading for class.
I’ve learned through my studies that everything is put in poems, stories, plots and what not all for a specific meaning. Nothing is meaningless. I really believe that writers pick floral images to give more meaning and depth to their pieces. I really like how you talked about Miri, I have never read “Princess Academy” but I really like how you were able to connect to that from this. I think things that are so beautiful to the normal mind and eyes can be something super deep and symbolic in the mind of the intellectual.
Also, if you think about the history of flowers and how nature was treated in the past, it is like holding onto traditions and beliefs that have been passed down from ancestors on natural elements of the world, for example, folklores and myths.
From my experience in creative writing, the author often uses a flowers as a symbol or to highlight themes within novels. Different types of flowers invoke different reactions and emotions in people based on our preconceived notions of what a certain flower means as well as what the novel is telling you.
What I find interesting, based on your post, is how often flowers are associated with both life and beauty as well as death and sadness. I find that the duality of it helps make it a more well-rounded symbol within literature, and something people don’t pick up on it. I would use roses as an example. People give roses to their love ones as a symbol of love and affection, but roses are also one of the most common flowers laid at gravestones or in cemetery.
Definitively some good food for thought!
This also ties into the variations of the flower. Going off of the rose example, red roses mean something different than white roses which is what I was saying about the lilies and with the vagueness of the flower in the poem, left the possible meanings of it very open-ended. I think one of the reasons flowers and floral imagery goes hand and hand with both life and death is because flower too goes through a life cycle. They grow, bud, blossom, wilt, and die. Their beauty is only temporary, they eventually disappear and are replaced with new ones (which now thinking about in the context of war is really sad. Sending men out to the front lines fully aware that they could die, them dying, then sending more men out to replace them).
Flowers and symbolism definitely go hand and hand. When I saw this post I immediately thought of the song Edelweiss from The Sound of Music. *spoiler alert*
The movie begins right before World War II breaks out in Austria. In the movie what has always stood out to me was how the song like the flower stands for the pureness of what is left in the world. When Captain von Trapp first sings the song, he is addressing his children. The second time he is addressing his nation. We get the iconic quote “My fellow Austrians, I shall not be seeing you again perhaps for a very long time. I would like to sing for you now… a love song. I know you share this love. I pray that you will never let it die.” That scene always gets to me because Captain von Trapp stops and is unable to finish the song. He knows his country will give in to the Nazi regime and that he and his family will have to flee Austria because he refuses to serve in the Navy.
On another level the flower is a metaphor for this struggle to exist in a world that opposes your existence. Edelweiss is found high up in the mountains where little survives, except this small flower, a symbol of hope against peril and persistence in the face of it. I think that is why the final scene of the family leaving across the mountains that cross into Switzerland is so iconic (though was not true to the actual story sadly.) It ties together the whole movie including the beginning where Maria finds herself in the mountains where she is fighting her own struggle of existence.
Flowers can hold political meaning like the poppy and although edelweiss has been used for numerous other historical meanings I will always think of it as what it did for the characters in the movie, unit a family and unit a nation.