The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare — John Shaqi
The plant-lore & garden-craft of ShakespeareEllacombe, Henry Nicholson
General
The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
Ellacombe, Henry Nicholson
Gardens in literature; Plants in literature; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Knowledge -- Botany
"Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon,
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attained his noon;
Stay, stay,
Until the hastening day
Has run
But to the even-song;
And having prayed together, we
Will go with you along.
We have short time to stay as you,
We have as short a spring,
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you or anything.
We die,
As your hours do, and dry
Away,
Like to the summer's rain,
Or as the pearls of morning dew,
Ne'er to be found again."
And there are Keats' and Shelley's well-known and beautiful lines which
bring down the praises of the Daffodil to our own day. Keats says--
"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever,
Its loveliness increases, it will never
Pass into nothingness. . . . . .
. . . . . In spite of all
Some shape of beauty moves away the pale
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are Daffodils
With the green world they live in."
Shelley is still warmer in his praise--
"Narcissus, the fairest among them all,
Who gaze on their eyes in the stream's recess,
Till they die of their own dear loveliness."
_The Sensitive Plant_, p. 1.
Nor must Wordsworth be left out when speaking of the poetry of
Daffodils. His stanzas are well known, while his sister's prose
description of them is the most poetical of all: "They grew among the
mossy stones; . . . some rested their heads on these stones as on a
pillow, the rest tossed and reeled and danced, and seemed as if they
verily laughed with the wind, they looked so gay and glancing."[76:1]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account