O'Keeffe's Painting that Inspired Chapter Divisions

"The Black Iris" 1926
"Sunflowers"
"Orchids" 1923
"Red Poppy"
"White Trumpet Flower" (1932)
O'Keeffe's Flower Paintings suggest the kind of synthesis underlying Songs response to the painter's work as a whole and operating in her poetry as a whole. O'Keeffe's oversize, large canvas flowers contradict ideas of delicacy, tenderness, modesty, shyness, etc, associated with flowers. The flowers are also with brilliant tints and finely nuanced tones, often soft or velvety textures and colors which are consistent with "woman as flower" image. The flowers are "radically conservative, a balance [that is] fundamental to the painter's creativity and personal vision" says Song.