Shakespeare's Flowers

by Jessica Kerr, Anne Ophelia Dowden (Illustrator)

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. "Shakespeare s Flowers combines fascinating lore and glorious paintings by Anne Ophelia Dowden, to recreate the gardens and meadows of Elizabethan England.

Genres: Nonfiction, Shakespeare, Gardening, Nature, Art, Poetry, Plays

85 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 1968

Reviews

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this gentle look at the flowers, herbs and weeds Shakespeare knew and incorporated in his poetry and plays. About half the 86 pages are taken up by painstaking colour illustrations of the flowers by American artist Anne Ophelia Dowden.

We learn that despite the line 'a rose by any other name would smell as sweet' the rose has never been called by any other name. Red and white roses symbolised warring houses. Other flowers have changed - the gillyvor is today's carnation or pink, while pansy with large blooms is a modern hybrid and the original was the small heartsease to which hybrids revert if left to seed for a few generations. The pictures make sense of folk names as in heartsease being called 'three faces under a hood' - this five-petalled flower has three lower petals with markings to attract bees and two dull higher petals.
We're told that in Shakespeare's later life, when he had money, he bought the cottage at Stratford and settled to enjoy gardening, so his later plays like The Winter's Tale mention flowers and herbs he was seeing each day.
Culinary herbs, called simples, were dried to hang in every kitchen, and medicinal uses were well known. Some people also believed in love charms and of course some plants are poisonous.
I would have liked a look at more trees such as the hawthorn, the may bush; we do get crabs being crab apples.
Shakespeare lived in a much colder time. He wrote of milk coming frozen home in the pail. This was a cool dip in the climate and accordingly some plants would only have been seen in the south of England while lands like Denmark, where Ophelia bestrews herself with flowers, had cold damp summers. The plants reflected the climate. But spices were being shipped from abroad, if mainly for the rich.
Rosemary and rue are associated with remembrance, rue with bitter memories as it is a bitter herb. Shakespeare used the folk memories of the people around him and by so doing, preserved them for us.
The more you read of this lively little book, the more you will want to discover about the Bard and his world. A couple of pages of suggested further reading are given at the end. I read the version first published in 1969.

[Rissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so I got this book from a book store in our town where I also found another gem, the unabridged version of Heidi. This book looked right up my alley and I was right. I liked:

1. Okay, first off the illustrations were gorgeous and I loved looking at them! They were all drawn with such beautiful detail that made me look forward to seeing them every time.

2. This book definitely delivered on its second part, which was connecting these flowers to Shakespeare's life and writing. It gave me a ton of insights into how what he saw was incorporated into his writing.

3. Lastly, I loved how actual pieces from his writing were put into this book in short quotes. I never really liked reading his full stories so it was awesome to get small bite sized versions of his work.

A charming information book that comes with beautiful pictures as well!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A readable but not exceptional guide to the flowers referred to in Shakespeare's works. It includes quotes and information about the flowers. I recommend it to anyone interested in both flowers and Shakespeare.

[Nienke]

A treat

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

A slight but lovely book about the flowers mentioned in Shakespeare's writing. For each chapter, Kerr lists some of the relevant quotations and gives snippets of information about the different plants, including their significance in Shakespeare's time. I learned some new information, including the fact that rosemary wood was used to make lutes and that 'carnation' comes from 'coronation' because the flowers used to be made into chaplets or coronets with which people were crowned.

This is not an in-depth account and it does suffer from repetition in a few places, but it is a delightful book for browsing through. The highlight is definitely the stunning artwork by American botanical artist Anne Ophelia Dowden (with a name like that, she'd have to be chosen as the illustrator!). The paintings are beautiful and well worth studying.

An enjoyable read that will appeal to those with an interest in gardening, botanical art or Shakespeare. It would be especially useful to anyone who is wanting to create a Shakespearean garden!

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at a used book stand because it has my favorite kind of illustrations. It’s a quick read, and for me, it underscores how important botanical names are, since common plant names change so often. If you already have a sense of what England looked like and how people lived in the 1580s, you’ll get more out of it. The book is vague on many details, so I’d suggest using it as a complement to your broader understanding of life in Shakespeare’s era. That said, the drawings are beautiful, and the text reads like a poetic conversation through a garden.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly beautiful book, explaining the meaning and traditional uses of many flowers that feature in Shakespeare’s plays and poems. This book combines many things that I love: poetry and literature, England, wildflowers, herbs, botanical illustrations, traditional flower names and the Language of Flowers; so reading it was a lovely way to pass a Spring evening …

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely little book on Shakespeare's use of flowers in his plays. The illustrations are gorgeous and the text clear and straightforward. It's not a aspect of the bard's work that I will ever make much of while I teach, but I enjoyed my time with the book and would happily add it to my shelves if the opportunity presented itself.

[Sarra.o · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much but I wish it was a bit longer ⚘

[Stella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations and explanations of the various flowers referred to by Shakespeare. Text is a bit dry.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and clearly written, Shakespeare's Flowers is packed full of interesting details about flowers in Elizabethan gardens, alternative names, their use in courtship, potions, cookery and gifts, and where those flowers or herbs appear in the writings of Shakespeare. Beautifully detailed and colored illustrations by Anne Ophelia Dowden accompany the descriptions of each flower. Lovely.