Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The speaker is likely H.D., but is technically unknown.
Form and Meter
Three stanzas with irregular lines. Inconsistent meter.
Metaphors and Similes
Simile:
"the sea-violet / fragile as agate,"
This simile compares the sea-violet to a type of rock called agate, which is known for its color variation and its fine-grained composition. Presumably, the sea-violet, while fine or fragile in some ways, is also quite formidable, like a rock. Additionally, given that agate rocks are so colorful and various, the simile could illustrate the unique and dazzling nature of the sea-violet.
Two Metaphors:
"frost, a star edges with its fire."
This line refers to the violet as both "frost" and a "star," perhaps demonstrating how though the flower is frail, it is also ever-present, intense, dazzling, and powerful.
Alliteration and Assonance
Alliteration:
"is scented on its stalk, / the sea violet": repetition of "S"
"fragile as agate, / lies fronting all the wind": repetition of "F" and "A"
"frail....frost....fire": repetition of "F"
Assonance:
"fragile...agate": "A" sound
"who...who...root": "OO" sound
Irony
Both the simile "fragile as agate" and the metaphor of the sea violet as a "star" are ironic. The likeness is unexpected, because the sea violet is described as both frail and fragile (and rocks and stars are not, compared to most objects).
Genre
Imagist
Setting
The seaside
Tone
Admiring, rebellious
Protagonist and Antagonist
Major Conflict
The main conflict is the fight for survival on the part of the sea violet who "lies fronting all the wind," and functions as a metaphor for women who must endure hardship in a misogynistic and violent culture.
Climax
The final lines are climactic in their poignancy, because after having spent the poem describing the sea violet's frailty, the speaker insists on honoring the flower's substance, allure, and strength, which are a metaphor for a new feminine ideal: "but you catch the light— / frost, a star edges with its fire."
Foreshadowing
Understatement
Allusions
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Personification
One could argue that in addressing the violet directly in the last stanza, the speaker has humanized the flower, especially given its metaphorical function as a female subject.
