Original poem reprinted online here: "Paper-White Narcissus" by Lisel Mueller Originally read: April 17, 2013 More information about the Poet: Lisel Mueller In the title, the automatic assumption is that there will be a correlation between the Narcissus of legend, and the Narcissus the flower. This is not something new, but there's different approaches to the comparative allegory. In the first stanza, the speaker notes the comparison with the opening focusing on the myth, "Strange, how they got their name -- / a boy, barely a man, / looked into sunlit water" And with the retelling of the tale, the speaker adds insight to the myth, "that treacherous reflection. There is no greater loneliness," Okay, so the didactic part here is a bit overboard -- maybe to coincide with the tenor of the myth. But the focus is the reading of the myth -- and the flower. The pronoun "they" and "we" comes into play. The they signifies a more commun...
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