"Madonna of the Evening Flowers"
Amy Lowell
"I think the Canterbury bells1 are playing little tunes."
1Little bell-shaped blue flowers; Lowell puns on the bells of Canterbury Cathedral in England in England pealing out religious music.
"While all about us peal the loud, sweet, Te Deums2
of the Canterbury bells."
2Te
Deum laudamus, "We praise you, Oh God." The first line to
a popular Catholic prayer.
Lowell writes in the style of Walt Whitman. Notice how varied her lines are in length.
What seems superficially like a mundane conversation about flowers
is a spiritual experience to Lowell, as indicated by the following items: