" What was is the author trying to suggest? The last line of the poem was "And in my hand a forest lies asleep," an image that was at once shocking and dramatic. It appeared as if the author intentionally left many things unsaid, as if she were trying to persuade one's mind into a journey of thought. Was the poem in fact about the potential of seeds? Or was the author attempting to imply something different? In my opinion, through the description of the seeds and their potential, the author was trying suggest the possibility of death, resurrection, and immortality in all people and things.
Though the theme might be disputed, there are many details of the poem that are clear. For example, the vocabulary is modern, simple, and clear. Secondly, although death is mentioned or implied several times in the poem such as "here in their safe and simple house of death," the poem is not a sad piece, but rather an optimistic piece of literature. Following that line, the author was sure to include "sealed in their shells, a million rose leap," in order to give hope for the future of the seeds. Last but not least, every other line of the poem rhymes with that of the line before it, making the poem pleasing to the ears.
I recalled a poem written by Robert Herrick in the early sixteen hundreds called To Blossoms. In Herrick's poem, he used an image of a tree to illustrate the taking of a life to soon, "Fair pledges of a fruitful tree, Why do ye fall so fast? Your date is not so past." Similar to Stuart's poem, the author left much unsaid, leaving the mind to wander. What is there after this so called life? Herrick went on to say, "Twas pity Nature brought ye forth, Merely to show your worth, And lose you quite." Once more, the readers are left to wonder was this life given and taken so suddenly, merely to prepare it for something else? .
Although, Robert Herrick's poem To Blossoms was written nearly 300 years earlier then Muriel Stuart's poem The Seed Shop, I found both poems to be quite similar.