How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts · Chapter
The Pansy; The Chim‑pansy explained
The chapter observes the pansy's human-like face, painted in yellow, blue, and black, but notes that the face resembles a chimpanzee, which diminishes the flower's appeal.
What happens
The chapter observes the pansy's human-like face, painted in yellow, blue, and black, but notes that the face resembles a chimpanzee, which diminishes the flower's appeal.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book.
- Setup
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional and psychological peak occurs in the tension between the Ibis’s preserved, sacred death and the…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Visual Perception and Deception
The pansy's face is perceived as human-like but is actually that of a chimpanzee, playing with visual deception.
- Nature and Classification
The poem explores the classification of a flower (pansy) by comparing it to an animal (chimpanzee), blurring natural categories.
Key passages
“Observe how Nature’s necromancies Have clearly painted on the Pansies, These almost human counten‑ances, In yellow, blue and black nu‑ances.”
Notice how nature's magic has painted pansies with faces that look almost human, using shades of yellow, blue, and black.
Describes the pansy's appearance as a magical, human-like face.
“The face however seems to me To be that of the Chim‑pan‑zee: A fact that makes the gentle Pansy, Appeal no longer to my fancy.”
But the face looks to me like a chimpanzee's, and that realization makes the gentle pansy lose its charm for me.
Reveals the speaker's disillusionment upon recognizing the chimpanzee-like face.
