The Solace of Nature

After learning about her possible cancer diagnosis, the speaker turns to nature for solace. When she buys 15 white lilies to plant (knowing they will take a year to bloom) the speaker actively places her hope for survival in the ground. White lilies symbolize rebirth and renewal, and though they are typically associated with Easter, the speaker forges her own relationship with this symbolism.

The earth comes to represent the speaker’s physical state. For example, in winter, the bare earth shows “rhizomes shrunken / below the frost line” as the cancer on the speaker’s tongue becomes a “sprawling mass” (10-11 and 9). This represents the worst stage in the speaker’s health, but the speaker does not linger in and focus on despair. Spring arrives immediately in the next lines, and shoots appear out of the earth “in bright green skins” (12) The word “skins...