Nature

Sure, this poem is about a rose. But, then again, that rose starts to sound an awful lot like a non-conforming woman during the early twentieth century. Non-traditional, hard, and living on the boundary between two different worlds? Unlike all the other conformist, pretty, made-to-order roses around? Hmm…that sounds like a pretty massive metaphor to us!

• Lines 2-4: These lines present us with the first image of the rose, one that's had some pretty tough livin'.
• Line 8: In an Imagist poem, you'd probably expect lots of images to be included – but this one is particularly striking. The rose, stuck in the currents between sea and sand, gets located precisely in this line.
• Line 9: Once again, the rose is stuck with some pretty crappy imagery. Not to worry – it's stronger because of all this hardship.
• Lines 12-13: Remember that time at the beach when the wind blew sand into your eyes? That's precisely the image that this reference to "crisp sand" brings to mind.