Swinburne gazes at a flower painting by Fantin-Latour and wonders what it offers—is it pansies, heart’s ease (the flower as well as the feeling), pleasure, or thought? He quickly decides that the artist’s heart created the image in pursuit of “heart’s ease,” a balm for some inner ache. The painter’s hand, moved by feeling, transformed private trouble into a quiet, shareable comfort. The flowers themselves are deep with lustre and shadow, leaning out of a glass vase that gleams like cold, still seas. They seem to reach toward a distraught viewer, lending solace. The poem’s mood is hushful and reflective, suspended between the chill clarity of the glass and the gentle warmth of the painter’s intention. The soft repetition of “heart’s ease” acts like a murmured reassurance, binding the beauty of the picture to the easing of a restless mind.
A Flower-Piece By Fantin — Summary
Heart's ease or pansy, pleasure or thought, Which would the picture give us of these? Surely the heart that conceived it sought Heart's ease.
Surely by glad and divine degrees The heart impelling the hand that wrought Wrought comfort here for a soul's disease.
Deep flowers, with lustre and darkness fraught, From glass that gleams as the chill still seas Lean and lend for a heart distraught Heart's ease.