{"id":3766,"date":"2016-02-08T14:37:01","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T19:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/?p=3766"},"modified":"2016-02-08T14:37:01","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T19:37:01","slug":"this-year-say-it-with-flowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/2016\/02\/08\/this-year-say-it-with-flowers\/","title":{"rendered":"This Year, Say It With Flowers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"flowoers\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For centuries, giving flowers or bouquets\u00a0has\u00a0always been a common way to convey sentiments, such as love, celebration, sorrow, etc. This practice seems to be\u00a0universal and can be found in traditional cultures throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The application of this practice is often called floriography, where a particular meaning has been assigned to specific flowers. The interest in the\u00a0language of flowers really took off during the Victorian Era, where gifts of bouquets or arrangements were often sent as coded messages to the receiving party. With the repressive and restrictive nature of etiquette\u00a0in Victorian\u00a0society, flowers offered\u00a0a way to express feelings that could not and should not be uttered aloud. If one was\u00a0well versed in floriography, or had access to a printed floral dictionary by Sarah Carter Edgarton<\/a> or Robert Tyas<\/a>, he or she could translate the visual meaning and develop an ongoing\u00a0secret “conversation”.<\/p>\n

In his book, Flowers, Their Use and Beauty, Language and Sentiment<\/em>, published in 1857, Arthur Freeling offers a resource for floriography with a comprehensive definition of terms, historical interpretations, and nuanced sentiments, to help participants\u00a0build a\u00a0sophisticated vocabulary of\u00a0flowers.<\/p>\n

After so many books have been published upon<\/em>
\n the subject, it would, prima facie, appear almost<\/em>
\n presumptuous to offer another to the public; but<\/em>
\n a little consideration will prove that a book, or<\/em>
\n that books are still wanting to give to Flowers their<\/em>
\n full power and significance. The present is an<\/em>
\n attempt not only to produce in one volume what<\/em>
\n would be technically termed “a language,” and “a<\/em>
\n poetry of flowers,” but also to give the mind of the<\/em>
\n inquirer an association of ideas, by which he may<\/em>
\n recal the Sentiment of which the Flower is the<\/em>
\n emblem as soon as the flower is presented or seen…<\/em><\/p>\n

As in all cases it is best to define the terms<\/em>
\n used, we beg to inform the gentle reader that, for<\/em>
\n the sake of uniformity, at the head of each Flower<\/em>
\n we have employed the term Sentiment, to indicate<\/em>
\n the passion, thought, sentiment, or expression of<\/em>
\n which a Flower may be the emblem ; for instance,<\/em>
\n the Variegated Tulip is the emblem of Beautiful<\/em>
\n Eyes. It appears thus in our book:\u2014<\/em>
\n Name of the Flower.\u2014The Variegated Tulip.<\/em>
\n Sentiment.\u2014Beautiful Eyes.<\/em><\/p>\n

With bouquets,\u00a0one can put together a combination of flowers\u00a0to form a more sophisticated sentiment, analogous to using\u00a0words\u00a0to form poetry or\u00a0prose.\u00a0For example, put together: peach blossom, box, cypress and marigold, carnation and lily of the valley and you would express\u00a0the following sentiment:<\/p>\n

“I am your Captive, but your Stoicism drives me to Despair; give me your Love and Return me to Happiness”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…or put together the geranium, water lily, harebell, cypress and marygold, lupine, golden rod, hawthorn, allspice, and red rose to articulate\u00a0this overwrought\u00a0sentiment:<\/p>\n

“Your Preference would Purify my Heart, but your Apathy and Disdain consign me to Grief, Dejection and Despair; Encourage me by thy Benevolence and give me a Token of Hope. My Love is Incorruptible.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Arthur Freeling provides lengthy historical background for his individual floral entries. For example,\u00a0the\u00a0Hydrangea as a symbol of heartlessness.<\/p>\n

Hydrangea–Heartlessness<\/em><\/p>\n

The origin of this idea is not so easily<\/em>
\n ascertained as many of those which<\/em>
\n we shall have to notice; it seems,<\/em>
\n however, to arise from the fact that it gives<\/em>
\n very much larger expectation of, and therefore<\/em>
\n hope for, perfect flowers, than it ever<\/em>
\n realizes, as the plant is distinguished above<\/em>
\n all others for its number of abortive flowers<\/em>
\n in this degree, therefore, it is a fit emblem<\/em>
\n of those heartless wretches of the coquette<\/em>
\n species (man or woman), whose glory it is<\/em>
\n to raise hopes which they never intend to<\/em>
\n realise, without any regard for that “blight<\/em>
\n of the heart,” which, if survived, is, we believe,<\/em>
\n from much observation, a greater creator,<\/em>
\n than callousness of feeling, of those interesting<\/em>
\n singularities, “old maids;”…<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
Description:<\/dt>\n
Freeling, Arthur. Flowers :their use and beauty in language and sentiment. London : Darton and Co., 1851.<\/dd>\n
Persistent Link:<\/dt>\n
http:\/\/nrs.harvard.edu\/urn-3:FHCL:11034838<\/a><\/dd>\n
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Repository:<\/dt>\n
Widener Library<\/dd>\n
Institution:<\/dt>\n
Harvard University<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
Description:<\/dt>\n
Mayo, Sarah C. Edgarton. The flower vase :containing the language of flowers and their poetic sentiments. Lowell : Powers and Bagley, 1844.<\/dd>\n
Persistent Link:<\/dt>\n
http:\/\/nrs.harvard.edu\/urn-3:FHCL:7661378<\/a><\/dd>\n
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Repository:<\/dt>\n
Widener Library<\/dd>\n
Institution:<\/dt>\n
Harvard University<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
Description:<\/dt>\n
Tyas, Robert. The hand-book of the language & sentiment of flowers :containing the name of every flower to which a sentiment has been assigned. With introductory observations. New York : J. Langley, 1844.<\/dd>\n
Persistent Link:<\/dt>\n
http:\/\/nrs.harvard.edu\/urn-3:FHCL:5128578<\/a><\/dd>\n
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Repository:<\/dt>\n
Widener Library<\/dd>\n
Institution:<\/dt>\n
Harvard University<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For centuries, giving flowers or bouquets\u00a0has\u00a0always been a common way to convey sentiments, such as love, celebration, sorrow, etc. This practice seems to be\u00a0universal and can be found in traditional cultures throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The application of this practice is often called floriography, where a particular meaning has been assigned to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2559,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3766"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3824,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766\/revisions\/3824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}