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Many scholars, people smarter than I could ever hope to be, have debated the themes and interpretations of this poem by Blake. Part of the problem being that Blake didn't use a consistent theme with his symbolism in his collection, Songs of Experience. This poem takes in themes of lost innocence, frustrated desires, and spiritual transformation; quite a lot for a poem of only two stanzas. But, with allusions to ancient Greek myth, there is more here than just a poem about a sunflower!
Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves and aspire
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.
As far as I am concerned, one of the great things about poetry is that it inspires further thought, it requires a little extra work on the part of the reader. It may be just a single stanza, it could be an epic, but it asks that the reader seek out more. When you read a poem by Blake - or Shakespeare, or Plath, or Poe - it requires that you understand the symbolism, the allusions to myth or current affairs. It spurs you on to find out those things. It does me, anyway.
So much can be said in only a few stanzas of poetry.
If you would like to read more Blake, you can find links to collections of his in previous of my pieces on Blake's poetry (here for instance). Links in my blog posts will take you to bookshop.org, who support independent bookshops.
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Thank you for reading. Stay safe. Stay well. And, read lots of good books!
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