Department of English
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
2202242 Introduction to the Study of English Poetry
Ben Jonson
(1572-1637)
It is not growing like a tree
(1629)
It is not growing like a tree |
|
In bulk, doth make men better be; | |
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, | |
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sear: | |
A lily of a day | 5 |
Is fairer far, in May, | |
Although it fall and die that night, | |
It was the plant and flower of light. | |
In small proportions we just beauties see; | |
And in short measures life may perfect be. | 10 |
Ben Jonson |
Poem Notes
5 A lily of a day: Is this the day lily? See definition below.
day lily (Webster's Third 578)
n [so called from the fact that each blooms for only one day]
1 a: a plant of the genus Hemerocallis being native to Europe and Asia but cosmopolitan in cultivation and as escapes, having complex tuberous roots and long narrow basal leaves, and bearing short-lived flowers that resemble lilies and are yellow or tawny orange in the wild but under cultivation have developed pinkish and mahogany to purplish forms b: the flower of a day lily
2: plantain lily
Reference and Further Reading
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Last updated January 29, 2008