How fitting it is that Shakespeare’s birthday should occur during Earth Week. His poetry and language speaking of nature and he earth’s resplendence is such a hallmark of his writing. In Sonnet 54, for instance, he compares two types of roses, the cultivated rose which gives a “sweet odor” and the wild rose which has no fragrance at all.
A keen observer of the natural world, his plays and sonnets mention at least 63 kinds of birds, not to mention all kinds of natural phenomena such as tempests, hurricanes, and earthquakes. The 16th century was a time of intellectual and religious ferment of which he certainly must have been aware, such as the Copernican controversy.
Plants were associated with certain themes, such as rosemary for remembrance and pansies for thoughts, daisies for innocence and violets for faithfulness. In Richard II, he compares the ordered care of a garden with the lack of care for ruling England. And, of course, there is A Midsummer’s Night Dream so full of evocative imagery.
Prayer for the Day
Silently, before the dawn, the earth begins to awaken,
The ground and its creatures start to scurry about;
With the sunrise will come the music of birds calling to each other,
Maybe even the sound of a fox looking for breakfast.
Your creation, verdant and fragrant in the spring,
May it be a reminder of your care for us.
In the name of the One who walked among the lilies,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,/Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,/With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Act II, Scene 1
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/ by any other name would smell as sweet.
Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 2
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom, giving forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, and come away.
Song of Solomon 2: 12-13