Difference between revisions of "Language of Flowers"

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Perhaps the most popular understanding of the Language of Flowers is that it was a practice during the Victorian era in which people sent flowers to each other – each flower coded in a specific emotion or message. It is also usually assumed that everyone in the Victorian era was fully knowledgeable and in complete agreement as to the specific meanings of each flower. In reality, however, the Language of Flowers was no less plastic than the spoken word. Additionally, there is little evidence that flowers were actually used by people to communicate secret messages (Seaton 2). It is clear, however, that flowers have been and continue to be containers of meaning for people. This page focuses on the history, myth, reality, uses, and remediations of The Language of Flowers during the Victorian era in France, England and America.  
 
Perhaps the most popular understanding of the Language of Flowers is that it was a practice during the Victorian era in which people sent flowers to each other – each flower coded in a specific emotion or message. It is also usually assumed that everyone in the Victorian era was fully knowledgeable and in complete agreement as to the specific meanings of each flower. In reality, however, the Language of Flowers was no less plastic than the spoken word. Additionally, there is little evidence that flowers were actually used by people to communicate secret messages (Seaton 2). It is clear, however, that flowers have been and continue to be containers of meaning for people. This page focuses on the history, myth, reality, uses, and remediations of The Language of Flowers during the Victorian era in France, England and America.  
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Revision as of 20:09, 14 November 2010

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Perhaps the most popular understanding of the Language of Flowers is that it was a practice during the Victorian era in which people sent flowers to each other – each flower coded in a specific emotion or message. It is also usually assumed that everyone in the Victorian era was fully knowledgeable and in complete agreement as to the specific meanings of each flower. In reality, however, the Language of Flowers was no less plastic than the spoken word. Additionally, there is little evidence that flowers were actually used by people to communicate secret messages (Seaton 2). It is clear, however, that flowers have been and continue to be containers of meaning for people. This page focuses on the history, myth, reality, uses, and remediations of The Language of Flowers during the Victorian era in France, England and America.




Origins

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Seigneur Aubry de la Mottraye, two Europeans who visited Turkey during the early 1700s, are often cited by scholars as having introduced the idea of a language of flowers to Europe with their descriptions of the Turkish “sélam'. These descriptions were written in a series of letters from Lady Mary, which became very popular after being published in 1763. “Sélam” was described a way for a girl is harem to communicate in secret with her lover on the outside. A group of objects would be wrapped in a handkerchief and sent from the woman to her lover and vice versa. It was not so important what the specific items were, but the messages were supposedly derived from words that rhymed with the names of the objects. (Seaton 62)

The famous orientalist, Baron Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall found many problems in the descriptions of this practice, which he wrote about in an article called “Sur le langage des fleurs”. He saw the drastic cultural differences between Montagu and Mottraye and what they were witnessing as holes in the credibility of their observations. He also notes the impracticality of trying to conceal a big collection of objects. Hammer-Purgstall's essay was useful in bringing to light a general misunderstanding about “sélam', which is that it was, in fact, not a symbolic language. This makes it an unlikely predecessor to floriography. Seaton perhaps rectifies this inconsistency by writing, “Thus, while the 'sélam' was not exactly like the language of flowers as it developed in the West, it did give the idea of a language of love conveyed by objects rather than words.” (Seaton 64)

Baron Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall's "Dictionnaire du langage des fleurs"

Hammer-Purgstall includes his own language of flowers at the end of his essay and Seaton publish some examples of them in her book. Derived from the “sélam”-esque tradition of rhyming, we are given an interested and sometimes baffling range of emotions and messages contained within flowers.

“Floral examples from Joseph Hammer-Purgstall's 'Dictionnaire du langage des fleurs” (Seaton 64)

Jonquille - Guéris moi, ma fille

(Jonquil - Heal me, my daughter!)


Tubereuse - Crève, malheureuse!

(Tuberose - Die, unhappy one!)


Des lys - Je l'embrace, regarde, et ris

(Lilies - I kiss her, look at her, and laugh)


Des jacinthes - Nous exhalons en rossignols nos plaintes

(Hyacinths - We express our complaints with flutes)


Violette - Nous sommes de la même taille

(Violet - We are the same in stature)


Rose - Je pleure, ris, toi!

(Rose - I weep, laugh – you!)


Rose - Tes torments m'on réduit en cendres

(Rose - Your torments hve reduced me to cinders)


Du myrthe - Que le Seigneur vous donne à moi

(Myrtle - If only the Lord would give you to me)


Grenade - Mon coeur brule

(Pomegranate - My heart burns)


Jasmin - Aimez-moi bien. Mon amour est égal au tien

(Jamine - Love me well. My love is equal to yours)

Flowers in the Victorian Era

Flower Dictionaries

In “The Language of Flowers: A History”, Beverly Seaton writes, “To modern enthusiasts, no feature of Victorian popular culture appears more charming, more cozy, or more absolutely Victorian that the language of flowers. But, in reality, none is more obviously misunderstood” (1). She is referring to the romanticization of The Language of Flowers as one universal language across all of England, France, and America. The meanings of flowers, however, were actually based on a popular genre of book called the Floral Dictionary and floral significance often differed from book to book and author to author. (Seaton 2)

The floral dictionary arose as a sub-genre of what was called the “sentimental flower books” (Seaton, 2), which were extremely popular during the Victorian era. “The sentimental flower book is one that does not treat flowers in botanical (scientific) or horticultural (practical) terms, but rather in terms of sentiment, feeling, and association” (Seaton, 2). Some of these sentimental flowers books focused solely on flowers and their meaning, while others incorporated poetry or religious themes. Others still, sometimes had empty pages, so as to encourage the owner to personalize the book or record her own poetry. Almost all of these books were written for the female, genteel reader and feature introductions that aim to make the books content accessible and easy to learn.


Surviving Floral Dictionaries

de Latour's "Le Langage des Fleurs". Click for full-size image and more information.


Despite the seeming proliferation of the medium of the floral dictionary, only a few have remained in the discourse as viable primary sources. For most scholars, the seminal floral dictionary is Charlotte de Latour's "Le Langage des Fleurs", which was first published in France in December of 1819. According to Beverly Seaton, this book's British and American equivalents are, respectively, "The Language of Flowers; With Illustrative Poetry" by Frederic Schoberl (1834), and "Flora's Dictionary" by Elizabeth Gamble Wirt for America. "Floral Emblems" (1825) by Henry Phillips is another well-known English book, as is Kate Greenaway's much later "Language of Flowers" (1884).

1884's "Language of Flowers" by Kate Greenaway. Click for full-size image and more information.