Shelley's To A Sensitive Plant is obviously thought to bring a sense of humanity to plant life, or nature. It's been attested that the sensitive plant is one that bridges the gap of man and nature, but I think it does so more than in just making the plant seem humanlike in its abilities. I think Shelley also puts a sense of his own emotion and self into the plant through his poetry. As he describes the "companionless" plant, the reader gets a sense that the narrator of the poem can relate to this plant's lonely lifestyle. He also seems to identify with the lost sense of a plant that doesn't know how to handle a cruel and violent world. He describes the "killing insects and gnawing worms" with a sense of evil yet necessity. He acknowledges that their intent is innocent, as it is to live themselves. It's almost a sad acceptance of the reality of the world. It seems to me that he too doesn't know how to rectify living in a world that isn't near his ideal, that offers such negative things to him.
I think the reason Shelley's puts a sense of his own emotion and self into the plant is because the plant is supposed to be analogous to the humans, whose abilities to sense are above other animals like the Mimosa's ability to sense is above other plants. According to this line of thought, the Mimosa is companionless because no other plants can sense in the way it can (though it may also refer to the fact that it doesn't have any flowers, which are the reproductive organs of many plants. I'm not quite sure how Mimosas reproduce but maybe their methods are different than other flowers and the male and female parts aren't close together like in some of the plants that Darwin describes). But what would this mean in regards to humans? I would say that humans traditionally have been proud of their sensory abilities and have been happy to consider themselves above other animals (though perhaps not those who believed in the principal of analogy). Perhaps humans isolation comes from the fact that we fail to reach out to others and retreat into ourselves and concentrate on our own interests when we begin to consider the world as a brutal place after the loss of our ideals, just like the mimosa curls into itself after the world around it begins to rot. When humans lose track of their ideals they become disillusioned and pessimistic. In class we discussed how it seemed unclear how we are supposed to rectify this in Shelley's poem. Perhaps the answer is to reach out to others. Since our own perceptions are limited, maybe if we reach out to others we can use our combined perspectives to recapture the ideal?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Laura that Shelley seems to be indicating something in the sensitive plant that must be extrapolated to the human life as well. I think that Shelley consistently portrays the sensitive plant as an observer, watching the various scenes that take place in the garden. Yet, the plant can never really take action on these scenes. It merely reacts to its observations, and this is where its sensitivity lies. Perhaps this is then a commentary on humanity as well-- that we do far more reacting than acting.
ReplyDeleteI think that Victoria makes a good point. The sensitive plant certainly does more reacting than acting. However, I think that it is also important to remember that the sensitive plant is rooted into the ground, and therefore immobile. Perhaps what is most tragic about the plight of the sensitive plant is that it has considerable feeling compared to the other plants, but it could never act upon those feelings even if it wanted to. The sensitive plant is therefore forced into the place of the observe. It also already maintains outsider status, being more aware and yet unfortunately alone.
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