tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401830411147364284.post1014310873084194367..comments2024-03-18T19:05:39.072-07:00Comments on Morphosis: Lillies that feſter, ſmell far worſe then weeds.Adam Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15803399373213872690noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401830411147364284.post-3722352048401755802013-12-31T08:50:48.356-08:002013-12-31T08:50:48.356-08:00Thank you, Marly!Thank you, Marly!Adam Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15803399373213872690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401830411147364284.post-992711952217006072013-12-30T20:48:17.317-08:002013-12-30T20:48:17.317-08:00I'm sure carnations or "clove pinks"...I'm sure carnations or "clove pinks" would have been in cottagers' gardens in Shakespeare's time. Today, our florist-purchased carnations last a long time because the fragrance has been bred out of them in order to give a long life in the vase or arrangement. But in Shakespeare's world, clove pinks (and many other flowers) would have had a very brief life in the vase, and the same natural oils that made them much more fragrant than our carnations would have caused them to rot quickly. So a plucked flower would turn sour...<br /><br />Enjoying rambling around in your poems.Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401830411147364284.post-51300689429828126162013-12-06T01:16:04.815-08:002013-12-06T01:16:04.815-08:00Yes, I may be overthinking it, Phil. I don't k...Yes, I may be overthinking it, Phil. I don't know though your reading seems to me to imply a timescale 'you used to be both beautiful and virtuous, but now you're beautiful and wicked, and that's worse than someone who has maintained a baseline sinfulness ...' I'm not sure that's true, either.<br /><br />According to Wikipedia, Carnations have been widely cultivated across Europe and Asia for the last 2,000 years.Adam Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15803399373213872690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401830411147364284.post-80904416258433802192013-12-05T06:53:25.390-08:002013-12-05T06:53:25.390-08:00I think you're overthinking it. The context (e...I think you're overthinking it. The context (even the context of the previous two lines) clearly suggests the second reading. And no, it's not any great insight that rotten flowers smell worse than flourishing weeds, but it's not meant to be. The argument is that someone beautiful & virtuously aloof can also be corrupt & vile, and that - like the festering lily - this makes them worse than somebody ordinarily sinful. And I think it's suggested (although not spelt out) that the aloof purity and the corruption aren't entirely unconnected.<br /><br />The plot of Ruth Rendell's _No More Dying Then_ revolves around someone who one character likens to the subject of this sonnet - "They that have power to hurt, and will do none"; it's a powerful image.<br /><br />Anyway, did they have carnations at that time? And was the meaning of 'lily' generalisable to cover them? (I have seen 'lily' occur as an adj. - 'lily flour' meaning 'beautiful flowers' - but I don't know how broadly the noun referred.) Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07009879034507926661noreply@blogger.com