Lyric Poem · Nature

The Flower

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Reading room

1Once in a golden hour

2I cast to earth a seed.

3Up there came a flower,

4The people said, a weed.

5To and fro they went

6Thro' my garden bower,

7And muttering discontent

8Cursed me and my flower.

9Then it grew so tall

10It wore a crown of light,

11But thieves from o'er the wall

12Stole the seed by night.

13Sow'd it far and wide

14By every town and tower,

15Till all the people cried,

16"Splendid is the flower!"

17Read my little fable:

18He that runs may read.

19Most can raise the flowers now,

20For all have got the seed.

21And some are pretty enough,

22And some are poor indeed;

23And now again the people

24Call it but a weed.

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“The Flower” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson — quilloak.com/poems/the-flower

Quick facts

Poem: The Flower
Poet: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Length: 24 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 24 lines · 6 quatrains
Line length: Lines run 5-7 syllables (median 6), consistent with trimeter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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Author record: Alfred, Lord Tennyson1809–1892
Source record: PoetryDBThe Flower by alfred-lord-tennyson, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 e319b8502a1e0708…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature

The Flower

Quick facts

How this poem works

A traceable edition

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