Heartsease,
Cuddle-me-to-you,
Johnny-jump-up,
Kiss-me-at-the-garden-gate:
All names for the Pansy.
The name 'pansy' is derived from the French for "thought," pensée. Je pense que pansies are lovely. The flower resembles a human face. In August, when the weather is hot, the face nods forward as if deep in thought. Here are some pansy-related items I have come across:
1. One of my favorites from Walter Crane's Flowers from Shakespeare's Garden, 1906. I had a copy of this book as a teenager. I feel so lucky to have found it digitized on Google Books! (Google Books, I love you.)
2. I thought this one was an interesting complement to the Crane drawing. (These flower babies were very big in the '90s.)
 |
| Pansies, Anne Geddes |
3. With this poem, Herrick refers to the Elizabethans and their idea that pansies eased the love-sick heart in their association with pure love, or love in its highest form. (Called unspoilt love. Isn't the spoiling one of the fun parts of love? Hah.)
TO PANSIES.
by Robert Herrick
AH, cruel love ! must I endure
Thy many scorns and find no cure ?
Say, are thy medicines made to be
Helps to all others but to me ?
I'll leave thee and to pansies come,
Comforts you'll afford me some ;
You can ease my heart and do
What love could ne'er be brought unto.
4. And...another poetic example. I don't know. I like pansies just fine and my view isn't changed at all by their possible chimp resemblance. Chimps are very cute, especially when they act like people.
| How to tell the birds from the flowers and other wood-cuts, 1917. | |
5. And, O'Keeffe...  |
| White Pansy, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1927 |
No comments:
Post a Comment