Flowers and stones in Literature

[applepie]

I'm doing some research, and I am hoping everyone can help me out. I've read a ton of books, but I know I've not even made a dent in the masses of literary works.

I am doing research on birthstones and flowers and their place in literature. I am looking for any interesting mentions of them in classic or well know literature. Here is my list:

Birthstones - Garnets, amethyst, aquamarine, diamonds, emeralds, pearls, ruby, peridot, sapphire, opals, topaz, and turquoise.

Flowers - Carnation, violet, jonquil (or daffodil), sweet pea, lily of the valley, roses, larkspur, gladiolus, asters, calendula, chrysanthemum, narcissus.

Any help you can give would be appreciated, since while I can think of some mentions, I was hoping to have something interesting for each.

Thanks!

Meg

[bluosean]

George Orwells Keep the Aspidispa Flying. Aspidispas (sp?) were flowers that the middle-class kept on thier tables. In his book, if I remember, the flower is the banner of the middle-class.

[Janine]

mhockenberry, I like this subject very much. I will try to think of more instance of flowers and gemstones; but for now here are the ones that come to my mind currently...

I know there is the mention of zillions of flowers in D.H.Lawrence works. In fact, in his first published novel, The White Peacock, someone actually did a count of all the species and it was thousands! He was very much into the study himself when young. Several flowers stand out to me within that book; one is the lovely snowdrops found in the wooded glens.
On of his poems is prominent in my mind. It is titled Violets; I am sure you can find it online. Another wonderful poem figuring a flower prominently is Blue Gentians. On the Nottingham University Library grounds, there is a statue of the author holding one in his thin delicate hands. It's quite a lovely image and the poem is beautiful. I am sure many of his other poems feature flowers.
In Lady Chatterly's Lover there is a remarkable scene, when she goes into the woods to view the bright yellow daffodils in the springtime, that grow behind the keeper's cottage. Also, the two lovers make garlands to wear the flowers running naked in the rain. In Women In Love, Lawrence mentions daisies and uses the flower often as a symbol of what he believes is the perfect state of being. Daisies exist freely, but they don't have a will of their own. I think he mentions other flowers as well, such as the water lily. Birkin gives Ursula several rings with various gemstones. If I recall correctly, he tells her their meaning or how he sees them descriptively...interesting scene. Lawrence wrote a short story Odour of Chrysanthemums and also wrote a play based on the short story .The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd. Lawrence wrote yet another short story The Rose Garden; his mother had a rose garden in the front of their house. In another of his short stories Witch a la Mode he features some red poppies on a piano, which take on special symbolic significance. Several of these short stories we have discussed on this forum.

I can think of many other authors who mention both flowers and gemstones in their writings. I am thinking of the Maupassant story The Necklace, about a woman who goes to a dance with a borrowed gemstone necklace; or it may have been pearls; I forget now. I don't recall exactly at this time. It's a great story, if you have not yet read it. In a short story by Chekhov called The Chorus Girl the girl is dupped into giving a jealous wife many gemstones she has recieved from gentleman callers. It's a short story but very interesting.

I read Camille (Lady of the Camellias) by the younger Alexander Dumas. This is the novel, which later a well-known opera, about a young man falling in love with a tubercular older woman, a courteson. She wears a red camillia or carries one with her always. Lovely flower and poignant image. Camille is a wonderful little book, if you have not yet read it. I happened to pick it up free at my libary freeby shelf; great little fine for an old hardbound copy.

How about Tracy Chavalier's novel Girl With a Pearl Earring? It's a good book and a wonderful movie adaptation. Also, in the book they mentions stones which are ground to create colors for Vehrmeer's paints. I personally loved that part. I liked the mention of Lapis Lasuli stone, which creates royal blue paint.

In H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, diamonds are the key element leading the expedition onward. I am sure that many stories feature diamonds.

I am sure I can come up with tons more for you. I always notice both, when I am reading. Hope this helps so far.

[Janine]

George Orwells Keep the Aspidispa Flying. Aspidispas (sp?) were flowers that the middle-class kept on thier tables. In his book, if I remember, the flower is the banner of the middle-class.

I love the movie made from that book, bluosean; have you read the book? I don't however, think they flower; they are the common house plant and basically green with long leaves. As said in the story; all respectable establishments had at least one.

[mal4mac]

Go to the Google search page, click on "more" and "Books". Now you need to focus your search so that you don't get a thousand geology books telling you about diamiond formation :-) To do that, get some useful tips here, like:


mhockenberry,

I know there is the mention of zillions of flowers in D.H.Lawrence works. In fact, in his first published novel, The White Peacock, someone actually did a count of all the species and it was thousands!



Now focus the search:

violet subject:"Fiction" inauthor:Lawrence

He likes the name Violet! But you soon get a good quote:

Lady Chatterley's Lover‎ : "There is nothing to save, now all is lost, but a tiny core of stillness in the heart like the eye of a violet."

Other likely candidates: Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Hardy, Tolstoy, Dickens, Blake (Rose though art sick...)

Actually, maybe not Dickens so much, he is so city centred that maybe flower quotes will not be common. In fact, the only one I could find for violet was a Sketch by Boz in which he mocks a young poet, "pouring forth his soul in a touching address to a violet"!

Good game this!

[kasie]

Aspidistra is a very hardy and forgiving plant: it will tolerate 'dust, fumes and general neglect' (RHS Encyclopedia of House Plants) and could safely be left in the window of the front parlour, a room that went unheated and unused except (possibly) on Sundays, Christmas Day and for funerals or when the minister/priest/vicar called. One variety is known as the Cast Iron Plant: its evergreen and upright leaves not only acted as a living 'net curtain' to defy prying eyes, but their glossy green surface advertised the care lavished on them (or not) by the houseproud owner. It is a member of the lily family and does flower under suitable circumstances though these were not often found in the parlours of chilly, damp Britain; its East Asian origin imparted an exotic though highly repectable air to homes that possessed one, hence Orwell's ironic title. There was a music hall song about owning the Biggest (H)aspidistra in the world, with all sorts of double entendre in the performance. They seem to have fallen out of favour in Britain in recent years - for some reason. (Dusts off her gardening gloves and puts away the trowel and watering can. :yawnb:)

[applepie]

Go to the Google search page, click on "more" and "Books". Now you need to focus your search so that you don't get a thousand geology books telling you about diamiond formation :-) To do that, get some useful tips here, like:



Now focus the search:

violet subject:"Fiction" inauthor:Lawrence

He likes the name Violet! But you soon get a good quote:

Lady Chatterley's Lover‎ : "There is nothing to save, now all is lost, but a tiny core of stillness in the heart like the eye of a violet."

Other likely candidates: Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Hardy, Tolstoy, Dickens, Blake (Rose though art sick...)

Actually, maybe not Dickens so much, he is so city centred that maybe flower quotes will not be common. In fact, the only one I could find for violet was a Sketch by Boz in which he mocks a young poet, "pouring forth his soul in a touching address to a violet"!

Good game this!

You're amazing! I don't know why that didn't cross my mind. Actually all of you are amazing, and the help is greatly appreciated:banana:

I was thinking some by Shakespeare, since he will be one of the most known. I also have one stuck in my head, don't remember where I read it anymore (which I guess is a bit sad that either my memory is getting that bad at 25 or I've really just read that much;))

"A rose by any other name...." I can't even remember the entire thing, but I think I'll so searching for it.

[Veho]

"A rose by any other name...." I can't even remember the entire thing, but I think I'll so searching for it.

I'm pretty sure that's from the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet.

[Janine]

Kasie, thanks for your explanation of the plant. Haha..you must be a true gardener!


I'm pretty sure that's from the balcony scene, in Romeo and Juliet.

Veho, I am positive of it, as well....but not sure it's the balcony scene, but it's definitely in R&J.

mkhockenberry, did the ones I posted for you help? Would you like me to find the exact quotes from those sources - stories or books or poems. I would be glad to post those for you; the poems would be easy.

That's strange you should mention the web search,...this morning, I was thinking about this thread and though, surely one could run some sort of search online. I know I have seen listed...flowers in Shakespeare; also flowers in D.H.Lawrence stories; Hardy would make for another great search since his work was so pastural.

One thing from Shakespeare's Hamlet, stands out vividly in my mind; Ophelia dying in the brook with wild flower garlands all about her. I will look the quote up. I know it is Gertrude, Shakespeare's mother, who relays this story and imagery to Laertes and Claudius. She mentions several varieties of flowers, grown wild and their nicknames, as well as proper names. In another key scene (earlier), Ophelia, when meeting again with her brother, after she has gone mad, talks of herbs, such as Rosemary and rue flowers, etc. with special significance to each...such as 'remembrance, grace'...I will look that quote up as well.

Ophelia:
"There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies. That's for thoughts."

Gertrude on hearing of her death in the brook:

QUEEN GERTRUDE
There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.


In the Shakespeare history play, Richard II, I recall that there is a garden scene, where the gardeners disguss the of pruning roses as a symbol or representative of pruning the bad out of the royal order. I will try to locate those quotes, as well.

Oh wow, I just ran a search: 'Flowers in Shakespeare' and you can find actual books on the subject. Then I went to Amazon and found this one, among others offered: http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeares-Flowers-Jessica-Kerr/dp/1555662021/ref=sr_1_1?

This is part of the product description touching on some of the references:


Perdita welcomes guests with rosemary and rue for grace and remembrance; Ariel hides in a cowslip’s bell. There is magic in the "little western flower" Oberon uses to cast a spell on Titania, and tragedy in Ophelia’s garland and Lear’s crown of weeds.
In the witches’ brews and love potions, as symbols of gallantry or faith, as seasoning in homely English kitchens, or as badges for the wars of kings, flowers and herbs were an intimate part of life in Shakespeare’s day. Their legends add color and fragrance to his plays and songs.

Below the listing are other books of Shakespeare flowers. I just might have to invest in this one or one of the others. This subject greatly interests me.

There is one book entitled Consider the Lilies: Plants of the Bible. I forgot about the Bible. That would surely have tons of different plants and flowers mentioned, within the text. Also, gemstones galore. Think of the case of the Wise Men and how they brought three gifts, explicitly identified in Matthew: gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which is found only in Yemen....not exactly gemstones, but 'gold' is of interest and if you read about the other two - they come from plants and flowers - forming rare sought after resins. I am also thinking of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and the most obvious reference would be the Garden of Eden; also the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Here's an article online about planting a garden with a Biblical theme. It mentions even more plants:

http://www.home-herb-garden.com/bible.html

[mal4mac]

I was thinking some by Shakespeare...

I read "Soul of the Age: The Life, Mind and World of William Shakespeare." by Jonathan Bate last year. Well worth reading! He has something on Shakespeare's pastoral influences.

I'm reading the RSC Complete Shakespeare, edited by Bate, at the moment. Midsummer Night Dream might be worth a look, the fairies have names like Peaseblossom and Mustardseed, and it's set in a forest...

Another good one with a pastoral setting is "As You Like It"...

The witches in Macbeth add "root of hemlock" to their cauldron.

In Hamlet, flowers are associated with Ophelia, so it might be worth looking at her scenes. For instance, Queen Gertrude scatters flowers on her grave saying "Sweets to the sweet, farewell..."

Then there's the history plays, several covering the "Wars of the Roses"!

[Dark Lady]

As Mal4mac mentioned Blake's a great place to look for references to flowers.

Also try Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. It's absolutely teeming with flowers, if I remember correctly.

[bluosean]

Im sorry if the Orwell book did not actually have flowers. I have not read Orwell for a long time. I could have forgotten. I would not have thought of the Bible. Thats an interesting choice. And so is Shakespere, Midsummers Night Dream is packed with flowers. The quote is from Romeo and Juliet but I dont remember from where. Veho is probably right. It goes something like "for whats in a name? that which we call a rose, by anyother name, would smell as sweet". The punctuation is probably off other than that I know it is close. This really is a good idea of a thread. it is very interisting.

[ktm5124]

Plenty of flowers in Mrs. Dalloway =)

[Janine]

Im sorry if the Orwell book did not actually have flowers. I have not read Orwell for a long time. I could have forgotten. I would not have thought of the Bible. Thats an interesting choice. And so is Shakespere, Midsummers Night Dream is packed with flowers. The quote is from Romeo and Juliet but I dont remember from where. Veho is probably right. It goes something like "for whats in a name? that which we call a rose, by anyother name, would smell as sweet". The punctuation is probably off other than that I know it is close. This really is a good idea of a thread. it is very interisting.

bluosean, oh, don't be sorry. It probably does have some sort of bloom and I think now that it hardly matters, if we say plant of flower. I find there are plenty of each in all kinds of literature. I like the mention of Midsummer Night's Dream as well...I was thinking also of the fairy names being flowers. That part of the play was so cool, I thought. Peaseblossom and Mustardseed are amusing, don't you think? Shakespeare was a genius with names; so many have double meanings. Yes, it suddenly came to me how many times gardens are mentioned in the Bible, going as far back as to Adam and Eve; also, plants like lilies of the field.

The Mrs. Dalloway reference is great. I think there is also some plants or flowers mentioned in Woolf's To the Lighthouse. There are many flowers in Forester's novels. I can recall the mother in the flower garden in Room With a View. Many stories mention fresh cut flowers being placed on a table inside a house. Sometimes the varieties are specified.

[Gustavo L.]

The protagonist of Novalis’ incomplete novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen dreams about a blue flower at the beginning of the novel (if I can remember it well). That flower became a key symbol to the Romantic movement. You may find this article useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Flower


In Geschichte des Zauberers Merlin by Friedrich and Dorothea Schlegel – I don’t know if it has been translated into English - the wizard Merlin is imprisoned by means of magic while sleeping at a rose garden.

A rose is a character of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Good luck! :)

[mal4mac]

See the "literature & art" thread for Ophelia & flowers extract:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?p=766452#post766452

"Taming of the Shrew" has Petrucio amusingly comaparing Kate to a "hazel twig" - "straight and brown" (it's use as a cane is left implied!) Also her sisters suitors give a run down of their wealth, so you might get some "stones" from that...

[mal4mac]

Midsummer Night's Dream ... Peaseblossom and Mustardseed are amusing, don't you think?

I like their light-hearted conversations with Bottom, one of my favourite Shakespeare characters. As charming as it gets! I like the way that Bottom doesn't get phased by turning into an *** (donkey!) or by being confronted by these strange beings... Harold Bloom has a good discussion of this play in his "Shakespeare:the Invention of the Human".

[kasie]

Mkhockenberry - do you have to stick with the 'official' birthday flowers or can you deviate into general flower symbols? If so, it might be worth your looking into the old idea of the 'signature' or meanings of flowers.

It's a very old idea - laurel wreathes for victors, an olive branch for peace, for example. Gertrude's speech about the flowers brought to the dead Ophelia is another example ('Here's rosemary, that's for remembrance...')

In Art, flowers have many symbols: the Lily in Gabriel's hand at the Annunciation, for example. And all those Dutch still lifes of huge bouquets aren't just portrayls of pretty blooms, every flower has a symbolic meaning. The Victorians tried to revive the idea of messages sent in flower form and somehow the 'meaning' of flowers has entered into a kind of collective unconscious, red roses for love, pansies for thoughts.

Janine - I've been gardening since I was about three when I was given a patch of earth as my own garden to stop me digging up daddy's vegetable patch. It was a bit of dry waste ground under a wall (which I now know would have been ideal for herbs, especially as it was close to the kitchen so my mother could keep an eye on me!) - no-one expected anything to grow but the packet of heart's-ease pansy seeds I was given came up and bloomed their little hearts out and are still some of my favourites but more remarkably, a peach stone that I pushed into the soil grew into a tree - it didn't survive transplanting to a more suitable site but a later planted stone grew to over fifteen feet and produced pounds of fruit, quite something in an industrial city in the cold, wet Midlands of England. It's all to do with faith, I think - if you believe it will grow and have the confidence to treat it properly, it will do its best for you, that's the only reason I can think for some of my more unexpected successes!

[JBI]

I think this is one of the more famous, and beautiful moments in English writing.



PERDITA
Out, alas!
You'd be so lean, that blasts of January
Would blow you through and through.
Now, my fair'st friend,
I would I had some flowers o' the spring that might
Become your time of day; and yours, and yours,
That wear upon your virgin branches yet
Your maidenheads growing: O Proserpina,
For the flowers now, that frighted thou let'st fall
From Dis's waggon! daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes
Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses
That die unmarried, ere they can behold
Bight Phoebus in his strength--a malady
Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and
The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,
The flower-de-luce being one! O, these I lack,
To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend,
To strew him o'er and o'er!



Of course, floral and natural imagery is central to most traditions - Tasso, for instance, wrote some very beautiful love lyrics and madrigals dominated by a sort of forestry imagery. I think Western literature however, for a long period of time seemed to have embraced sort of codified perceptions of certain flowers - from Dante's roses, to Ovid's Narcissus - there has been actually much written about it, and I am sure if you looked into an encyclopedic text on literary symbols you could find loads of information, with bibliography.

[applepie]

Thank you all very much!

Janine - Your posts were a huge help. I don't need exact quotes. They are nice, but the general importance of them to a work is fine as well.

Kasie - I do have to stick to the flowers listed for each month. The same goes with the stones.

The end result is going to be a series of 24 articles. There will be one for each months flower and stone. I will be including a bit of history and the general "meaning" of them, but I thought the literary references will be nice since it isn't really common information that you can find on any internet site about them. My goal is to provide something that is both informative and unique.

:lol: I can't believe I forgot that it is a quote from Romeo and Juliet :lol: I'm laughing at myself over that one, but in my defense... it was never my favorite of his works. I've always enjoyed the comedies more, and the tragedies I like run much more to the bloody side. I loved Hamlet, and Titus is perhaps my all time favorite. Still I should have known and now I'm a bit embarrassed :blush:

[Janine]

Glad I could add something to this thread and help out, mkhockenberry. Now I see your goal a little more clearly. Even though you started this thread with your study as the focus; it is still rather an interesting subject and worthy of posting some quotes for all our benefit; if you don't mind us doing so. I have enjoyed the interchange of information here. You have gotten a good response; so obviously, people do like this subject. I like it emensely. I know someone who compiled the flowers in Shakespeare's works, to send to an well-known actor and he very much appreciated it; she received a heartfelt letter of thanks. I believe she made up a sort of book of photos or drawings. What a nice thing to do. Everyone loves flowers and gemstones are wonderful, of course.

A field of wild violets is mentioned in Room With a View; in fact, it is a rather 'key' scene....very romantic, too. Violets are often mentioned in literature.

[Janine]

Mkhockenberry - do you have to stick with the 'official' birthday flowers or can you deviate into general flower symbols? If so, it might be worth your looking into the old idea of the 'signature' or meanings of flowers.

It's a very old idea - laurel wreathes for victors, an olive branch for peace, for example. Gertrude's speech about the flowers brought to the dead Ophelia is another example ('Here's rosemary, that's for remembrance...')

In Art, flowers have many symbols: the Lily in Gabriel's hand at the Annunciation, for example. And all those Dutch still lifes of huge bouquets aren't just portrayls of pretty blooms, every flower has a symbolic meaning. The Victorians tried to revive the idea of messages sent in flower form and somehow the 'meaning' of flowers has entered into a kind of collective unconscious, red roses for love, pansies for thoughts.

Janine - I've been gardening since I was about three when I was given a patch of earth as my own garden to stop me digging up daddy's vegetable patch. It was a bit of dry waste ground under a wall (which I now know would have been ideal for herbs, especially as it was close to the kitchen so my mother could keep an eye on me!) - no-one expected anything to grow but the packet of heart's-ease pansy seeds I was given came up and bloomed their little hearts out and are still some of my favourites but more remarkably, a peach stone that I pushed into the soil grew into a tree - it didn't survive transplanting to a more suitable site but a later planted stone grew to over fifteen feet and produced pounds of fruit, quite something in an industrial city in the cold, wet Midlands of England. It's all to do with faith, I think - if you believe it will grow and have the confidence to treat it properly, it will do its best for you, that's the only reason I can think for some of my more unexpected successes!

Kasie, you provided some interesting information. I love your gardening stories. I have a garden myself; but alas, wish it was now merely a little plot of earth, since my garden kept growing larger and now it's too difficult to control. I refer to it as my 'natural garden' and unfortunately, because of my own lack of care and attention I have lost a lot of my favorite plants. How the others survived, one must entirely give credit to nature. I don't have such good soil myself. Dry soil is usually good for herbs, which I do grow near the backdoor but actually now in pots. Herbs, I am sure you know, don't mind being slightly neglected from time to time. My problem is 'weeds', tons of weeds everywhere; some have choked out the good plants. At least, I did stick to perennials and many of those bloom freely to this day (among the weeds! haha). My big pink hibiscus is blooming presently and is quite pretty. Your story sounds like The Secret Garden in all it's revived glory. I can't imagine your sucessful peach tree - 15ft - good for you! I did manage to grow a little red maple tree from a sapling, but it is not yet 15ft tall. And to grow pansies from seed is quite an achievement. I did manage only to grow my hibiscus plants from seed. I guess I got lucky for a change.

Here is another book where many plants/flowers are mentioned - The Secret Garden.

[applepie]

Glad I could add something to this thread and help out, mkhockenberry. Now I see your goal a little more clearly. Even though you started this thread with your study as the focus; it is still rather an interesting subject and worthy of posting some quotes for all our benefit; if you don't mind us doing so. I have enjoyed the interchange of information here. You have gotten a good response; so obviously, people do like this subject. I like it emensely. I know someone who compiled the flowers in Shakespeare's works, to send to an well-known actor and he very much appreciated it; she received a heartfelt letter of thanks. I believe she made up a sort of book of photos or drawings. What a nice thing to do. Everyone loves flowers and gemstones are wonderful, of course.

A field of wild violets is mentioned in Room With a View; in fact, it is a rather 'key' scene....very romantic, too. Violets are often mentioned in literature.

It is a very interesting topic... at least I think so. Part of the reason that I'm writing the articles in this manner. They will be on a site that sells personalized embroideries personalized with a name as I'm writing them as a favor for someone. There are two lines that focus around the month you were born. One of flowers, and one is a line of teddy bears with birthstones. Anyhow, the idea was to include unique information about them, and I think this is something that I haven't found on the internet. It is more difficult, but at least people will be able to read something new along with some of the more standard information:)

Anyway, one of the more interesting bits I've found had to do with Oscar Wilde. It seems that at the premier for Lady Windermer's Fan he had one of the actors wearing a green carnation as well as a portion of the audience. The object was to cause a stir amongst those attending by having this mysterious symbol. Turns out, the joke was on those who he talked into wearing the carnation. Wilde himself is believed to have been homosexual, and the green carnation was a sign in Paris used to indicate this fact. The people of London had no idea, and it was his private snub at a society who he blamed for the constraint of appearing to be heterosexual.

While not really appropriate for my articles, it was just something interesting to pass along:D

[Whifflingpin]

Is it Milton's Lycidas? "Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken lies..." Lots of flowers in there

[Whifflingpin]

deleted duplicate

[Janine]

It is a very interesting topic... at least I think so. Part of the reason that I'm writing the articles in this manner. They will be on a site that sells personalized embroideries personalized with a name as I'm writing them as a favor for someone. There are two lines that focus around the month you were born. One of flowers, and one is a line of teddy bears with birthstones. Anyhow, the idea was to include unique information about them, and I think this is something that I haven't found on the internet. It is more difficult, but at least people will be able to read something new along with some of the more standard information:)

mkhockenberry, how very nice. I used to do embroidery; I loved doing it. I love the idea of the flowers and birthstones related to literature; and I do think this will add more interest to your pursuit. Hope it goes well for you.


Anyway, one of the more interesting bits I've found had to do with Oscar Wilde. It seems that at the premier for Lady Windermer's Fan he had one of the actors wearing a green carnation as well as a portion of the audience. The object was to cause a stir amongst those attending by having this mysterious symbol. Turns out, the joke was on those who he talked into wearing the carnation. Wilde himself is believed to have been homosexual, and the green carnation was a sign in Paris used to indicate this fact. The people of London had no idea, and it was his private snub at a society who he blamed for the constraint of appearing to be heterosexual.

While not really appropriate for my articles, it was just something interesting to pass along:D

Yes, but what a great story. That sounds like something he would dream up. I can imagine how funny this 'inside joke' must have been to him at the time.

I just came across this on Youtube. Jeremy Irons reciting Daffodils by William Wadsworth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQnyV2YWsto&feature=channel_page