☝️ Key Points
- The song 'Wildwood Flower' is a tragic love story, told from the perspective of the narrator who describes his love and loss.
- The narrator's beloved is compared to the beauty of various flowers and the brightness of gemstones, representing his strong love and admiration for her.
- In the third verse, the mood changes dramatically as the narrator realizes that his beloved has left him and his heart is broken.
- The memory of his beloved, who once called him her 'flower', makes the narrator feel neglected and sad.
- The entire lyrics of 'Wildwood Flower' are an expression of longing, loss, and sorrow, reflecting the beauty and suffering of love.
Interpretation
'Wildwood Flower' is a traditional American folk song that
Johnny Cash reinterpreted in his own style. The lyrics tell a tragic story of love and loss.
In the first two verses, the narrator sings about his love for a woman whom he compares to the beauty of various flowers and the brightness of gemstones: 'Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair, With the roses so red and the lilies so fair'. He is filled with joy and happiness and plans to spend his life with her: 'I will dance, I will sing and my laugh shall be gay; I will charm ev'ry heart in her crown I will sway'.
But in the third verse, the mood changes. The narrator awakens from his dream and realizes that his beloved has left him without any warning or farewell: 'When I woke from my dreaming, my idols were clay; Our portion of love then had all flown away.' His heart is broken and filled with sorrow.
In the last verse, he remembers how she called him her 'flower', destined to brighten her dreary hours. Now that she has left him, he feels neglected and mourns her absence: 'Yes, she taught me to love her and called me her flow'r, That was blooming to cheer her true life's dreary hour; Oh, I'm longing to see her true life's dark our, She's gone and neglected her pale wildwood flow'r.'
Overall, 'Wildwood Flower' is a song about the beauty and the pain of love, about the blooming and the fading of feelings in a relationship. It is an expression of longing, loss, and grief.