LILY

25th March 2024

Photo Credit: Entusiasta da fotographia (Getty Images), CANVA

QUOTATION

I am the most unhappy woman living.

Alas, poor wenches, where are now your fortunes?

Shipwracked upon a kingdom where no pity,

No friends, no hope, no kindred weep for me,

No grave allowed me, like the lily

that once was mistress of the field and flourished,

I’ll hang my head and perish.

QUEEN KATHERINE: Henry VIII, Act 3, Scene 1

LILY (White Lily: Lilium candidum)

Katherine of Aragon compares herself to the glorious Lily now withering and dying. The Lily was one of Shakespeare’s most used plant metaphors. Lilys represented innocent, beauty, purity, skin colour and in the case of lily-livered, cowardice. Both Katherine of Aragon and Elizabeth the First are compared with Lilies in The context usually makes it clear that Shakespeare is referring to a white Lily. John Gerard (1597) says that “our English white Lilly groweth in most gardens of England.” and lists a wide range of medicinal purposes for the root and flowers of the White Lily.

White Lily were closely associated with the Virgin Mary and were often represented in scenes of the Annunciation, where Gabriel tells Mary that she will carry God’s child. Annunciation Day is the 25th of March. St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – 1153) described Mary as “the Violet of humility, the Lily of Chastity, the Rose of Charity” (Meagher 2007). Katherine describing herself as a faded Lily could be seen as a metaphor for the fading of Catholicism and the veneration of the Virgin Mary, however the baby Elizabeth I is also described as a ‘pure unspotted lily’ in the same play. The Lily has a complex and diverse heritage in many cultures including ancient Greece and Rome, Biblical and European Christian tradition. Lily beds were part of the most complete medieval monastry garden plan, Saint Gall in Switzerland.

Lilium candidum is native to parts of southern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean but is also naturalised in other countries and cultivated in many others.

More Information

Folger Shakespeare: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Gardens Trust Blog: the perfect monastery garden

Kew Plants of the World Online: Lilium candidum

Meager, J. 2007, Botanical Imagery in European Painting. Met Museum