Here in this poem Freneau deals with the themes of loveliness and the transience of life. It has been called the best American nature poem before Bryant’s achievement in this field. The poet discovers the flower in an unfrequented spot and meditates on its beauty. In its retreat no foot shall crush it. Nature arrayed in white, “and sent soft waters murmuring by.” It spends its days in repose, sad that Autumn shall destroy it. It was born of “morning suns and evening dews,” and when it dies it is the same, thus losing nothing. Even though the poet does not say it, the reader is reminded of the fate of man.