Category: SHAKESPEARE
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PRIMROSE
THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Primrose Lisa Karen Miller Shakespeare used the primrose to symbolize sickly young women, or the early death of a young maiden, who, like the flower, dies before she gets to see the sun. In The Winter’s Tale, Perdita (“she who is lost”) says: “…pale primroses,…
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PANSY
THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Pansy Lisa Karen Miller Shakespeare knew his flowers, and he knew that his audiences would understand their references in his plays. The word pansy derives from the French penser, to think. Thus, in Hamlet, Ophelia is right when she says, “And there is pansies –…
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MULBERRY
THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Mulberry Lisa Karen Miller In 1609, King James I devised a brilliant scheme. If England planted mulberry trees to feed silkworms, they would save the trouble and expense of importing silk from the Orient. It was indeed an excellent idea. Unfortunately, the feasibility study…
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LEEK
THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Leek Lisa Karen Miller At the investiture of Edward, Prince of Wales in 1911, a misguided attempt to replace the leek (thought to be vulgar by some) with a daffodil as the flower of Wales failed miserably. The leek reaches far back into the history…
Folklore of Plants 