Go to seed means to decline through neglect, age, idleness, or loss of care, originally from plants passing into a less cultivated state. In poetry, the idiom can describe gardens, houses, bodies, institutions, towns, reputations, or moral habits. Its botanical origin gives it a natural double meaning: seed may suggest both decay and future growth. A poet can use the phrase to show deterioration, but also to ask whether what looks neglected may contain hidden regeneration, wildness, or release from control.

Go to seed means deteriorate after a period of flourishing, from plants that stop flowering and begin producing seed. In poetry, the idiom can be sympathetic, comic, or cruel when applied to people, houses, gardens, towns, or institutions. It is especially rich because seeding is also a natural form of continuation. Students should ask whether decline is merely decay or part of a cycle of renewal.