The poem
Once in a golden hour I cast to earth a seed. Up there came a flower, The people said, a weed.
To and fro they went Thro' my garden bower, And muttering discontent Cursed me and my flower.
Then it grew so tall It wore a crown of light, But thieves from o'er the wall Stole the seed by night.
Sow'd it far and wide By every town and tower, Till all the people cried, "Splendid is the flower!"
Read my little fable: He that runs may read. Most can raise the flowers now, For all have got the seed.
And some are pretty enough, And some are poor indeed; And now again the people Call it but a weed.
Interesting.....I would like to find more in depth analysis of this I thought it was very....mysterious. Like it contains hidden meanings or something
I think this poem is a perfect example of how we often view things that are new. While they belong to someone else and we know little about them, we regard them with disdain or suspicion. Then when they become more common, we all think they are wonderful until the time that they become so common, we once again regard them with disdain or simply take them for granted. Many of our modern inventions are prime examples of this -- cell phones, computers, television.
I agree with Laura, in that this poem is about not first apreciating something for what it is. However, I take the view that Tenyson is suggesting that this something is inventive art, and not technology. For example, he writes a poem and at first no-one save himself likes it. Then as it grows, people steal the idea and copy it, writing imitations. Some are good, some are bad, and some people still do not appreciate any of this; authentic or not. This is true historically, and is the general pattern of artistic movements.
This poem tells us about the industrial revolution.it tels us how people criticise new ideas. In this revolution, first, people started criticising but when they got to know the taste of it they started encouraging.This tells that people are always changing their minds but we should not listen to them