From Blake’s Songs of Experience. published in 1794, this was one of the series of poems which explore the harsh realities of late 18th and early 19th Century life during the time of King George III, known — ironically given the terrible social conditions of the time — as the Romantic Era. Most of the poems in the “Songs of Experience” category are matched by an idealistic portrayal in Songs of Innocence. The contrast is Blake’s method of social protest.

The speaker of this poem observes a sunflower that pines after the sun hopelessly until the sun sets–before the sunflower starts over with the same routine the next day.

Structure
This poem consists of four short quatrains with an ABAB rhyme pattern, and is in anapestic trimeter, reflecting the daily monotony the sunflower may suffer. This poem is similar in form to My Pretty Rose Tree, a poem that was painted on the same page as Ah! Sun-flower, as well as The Lilly.

Language and Imagery
This seemingly simple poem uses complex imagery. The sunflower is a symbol of youthful aspiration not met. In the poem it turns towards the sun as if seeking that ‘sweet golden clime’; a metaphor for fulfillment. The ‘journey’ is a metaphor for life.

Note also that ‘Virgin’ and ‘Youth’ are capitalised, to represent all those who share their plight.