Hi all,

I am looking for poems and/or music that mention plants, flowers, herbs etc.. in general, and those of Shakespeare in particular. Any suggestions, links will be greatly appreciated.

Nice weekend

ctmp, go to Google search engine. Type in "Poems about (Nature, Plants, Flowers, etc.)", you will get much to choose from. Hugh can do a Shakespearean search for particular words. Any kind of special flower you like?

Les

Here's a site that lists Shakespeare's mentioning of flowers in his works:

[www.literarycalligraphy.com] />
and here's a site that has all his sonnets:

[www.shakespeares-sonnets.com] />

Les

Mary's Garden
[www.mgardens.org] />
Leicxky

(I take every opportunity to share this one. Note: HEAL-ALL is a deadly poisonous plant.)

DESIGN by Robert Frost

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth --
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth --
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small.

I found this one by going to Bartleby.com, choosing the VERSE tab, and then plugging in flower names until I got hits with "Tulip." This is only one of 16 poems on Bartleby containing the word TULIP, so you'll probably have a lot of luck searching there.


Flowers
by Thomas Hood (1799–1845)

I WILL not have the mad Clytie,
Whose head is turn’d by the sun;
The tulip is a courtly quean,
Whom, therefore I will shun;
The cowslip is a country wench,
The violet is a nun;
But I will woo the dainty rose,
The queen of every one.

The pea is but a wanton witch,
In too much haste to wed,
And clasps her rings on every hand;
The wolfsbane I should dread;
Nor will I dreary rosemarye,
That always mourns the dead;
But I will woo the dainty rose,
With her cheeks of tender red.

The lily is all in white, like a saint,
And so is no mate for me,
And the daisy’s cheek is tipp’d with a blush,
She is of such low degree;
Jasmine is sweet, and has many loves,
And the broom’s betroth’d to the bee;
But I will plight with the dainty rose,
For fairest of all is she.

Botany
There should be no monotony
In studying your botany;
It helps to train
And spur the brain--
Unless you haven't gotany.
It teaches you, does Botany,
To know the plants and spotany,
And learn just why
They live or die--
In case you plant or potany.

You learn, from reading Botany,
Of wooly plants and cottony
That grow on earth,
And what they're worth,
And why some spots have notany.

You sketch the plants in Botany,
You learn to chart and plotany
Like corn or oats--
You jot down notes,
If you know how to jotany.

Your time, if you'll allotany,
Will teach you how and what any
Old plant or tree
Can do or be--
And that's the use of Botany!

--Berton Braley
Science News Letter
March 9, 2022


Found at:
[koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu] />
(by net searching for "botany + poem")

Presumably it heals-all in the way Kipling says in "Our fathers of old"
"Half their remedies cured you dead."

Bushels have been written about Shakespeare's plant language.

Start with Ophelia's mad scene and go on from there.