Monet’s Lilies Shuddering (1988). Summary and Description

This poem is a profound meditation on art and the way it affects the viewer. Ferlinghetti sets the poem in the Chicago Art Institute; the main works of art to which the poem refers are the many paintings of lilies executed by the impressionist painter Claude Monet. The poem, though, is less a celebration of art per se, and more a meditation on how its enduring power is made manifest years, even centuries, after the painter himself has died. In fact, Ferlinghetti opens the poem using just that idea: “Monet never knew / he was painting his ‘Lilies’ for / a lady from the Chicago Art Institute / who went to France and filmed today’s lilies” (ll. 1-5).

In these opening lines, the speaker emphasizes the fact that the artist has no idea how long his art will last or how it will influence other people, implying that the power of art in part lies in its ability to transcend the age in which it is created. The speaker also tells us that there are many of Monet’s paintings at the museum, making it likely that this is an exhibit of his paintings of lilies; there are “rooms and rooms / of waterlilies,” he tells us (ll. 12-13).

In addition to the ability of art to transcend the conditions of its creation, another of the poem’s main themes is simply the dedication and wonder any great artist possesses. We are told that Monet returned to the water lily pond near Giverny, France, for “twenty years” and that his dedication to painting the lilies “gives us the impression / that he floated thru life on them / and their reflections” (ll. 19-21).

The artist’s dedication to his craft, the speaker implies, allows him almost to be propelled through his life by his art. This, however, is not Ferlinghetti’s only point. At the poem’s conclusion, the speaker relates other things that Monet could not know, including the fact that we would reflect on his paintings, and the fact that “John Cage would be playing a / ‘Cello with Melody-driven Electronics’ / tonight at the University of Chicago / And making those Lilies shudder and shed / black light” (ll. 26-30).

The John Cage to whom the speaker refers is a composer of music whose pieces often call for both standard symphonic instruments and electronic instruments, such as synthesizers. We are thus left with what might seem an incongruous image, Cage’s postmodern musical compositions and Monet’s lilies. However, Ferlinghetti demonstrates again that temporal categories such as the past and the present do not typically apply to art that can transcend both time (Monet’s lilies) and place (the concert hall out of which Cage’s music filters to find and “shudder” the lilies). The poem therefore encourages us to recognize and honor the transcendent power of all art.

For Discussion or Writing
1. Compare “Monet’s Lilies Shuddering” to Robert Browning’s “Andrea del Sarto.” How do Browning’s attitudes toward art differ from Ferlinghetti’s? What power does art have in the Browning piece? Is it similar or dissimilar to the power of Monet’s work in the Ferlinghetti piece?

2. Why does Ferlinghetti mention music? How does the speaker of the poem feel about the power of music, and is the image of the music making the lilies shudder a positive one? What power does the speaker believe music has?