Harry Thurston’s “Miracle” Extended Metaphor

Harry Thurston’s “Miracle” is a simple and sweet poem, which displays the usage of an extended metaphor. As the speaker is in the process of explaining to his daughter as to why she should not pick the blossom and allow it to grow, he soon regrets telling her to stop. If Thurston meant to metaphorically convey this poem as the growth of his daughter, we can safely assume that the blossom mentioned in the second line of the poem that will “turn into a strawberry” (4), represents his daughter as a toddler who will soon grow up into a beautiful young lady. From “no sooner are the words out than I regret forestalling her pleasure” (7-8), we can also assume that he regretted holding her back from her own curiosities and discoveries, his fatherly instincts to nurture and care for his daughter while she is still young could be the cause of this; it would have been his way of protecting her.

It also suggests that he came to the realization that he needed to allow her to experience everything on her own and let her grow. “For what is one blossom less, and weeks to a child too long to wait” (9-10), suggests that there would have been no harm done if she were to pick a single blossom but her childhood would have been in a way harmed from not being able to satisfy her curiosity and learning from her own experiences. He realizes that as a parent, he doesn’t need to protect or teach her everything because she will eventually learn on her own. I feel as if this poem is a reminder to us that life is in a sense a “miracle” (15). It is hard to believe that something so small such as a blossom can grow into something so different such as a sweet strawberry or a toddler growing up into something new such as an adult until we see it happen.