The Language of Flowers in Selected Poems by William Blake: A Feminist Reading

Abstract

The study aims at analyzing the meanings and symbolic implications of flowers in selected poems by William Blake (1757-1827) from a feminist perspective. This paper analyzes the themes and symbolism of different kinds of flowers to explain how William Blake tries to expose the situation of women in the patriarchal nineteenth-century society. The study discusses the language of flowers from a feminist perspective relying on three prominent feminists. First, the study relies on Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) who rejected the patriarchal role of women as submissive and weak. Second, the study applies Virginia Woolf’s feminist perspective about rejecting the role of women as the angels of the house. Third, the study applies Simone de Beauvoir’s rejection of categorizing women as subjective and inferior. William Blake is an early feminist who rejected the submission of women and used his poetry to comment on the situation of women in the nineteenth century. He expresses many issues related to women. He believed in women’s ability to be independent and strong and he refutes the traditional social stereotyping of women as being inferior and weak and therefore they are in constant need of the support of men. Blake stresses the beauty and strength of women through describing women in floral imagery.