Post #1: Interpretation of the Rose

 From Angels Light Worldwide

Today we are working on our very first blog entry: Our interpretation of the Rose by Ferber.
The excerpt that interested me the most comes from the beginning of the interpretation:

There were several varieties of rose in the ancient world, as there are hundreds in the modern, but the rose in poetry has always been red (or "rose") in color, unless otherwise described. "Red as a rose" is the prime poetic cliché, and poets have used every other term for red to describe it, such as Shakespeare's "deep vermilion" (Sonnets 98) or the "crimson joy" of Blake's "Sick Rose". The rose blooms in the spring, and does not bloom long; the contrast is striking between its youth in the bud and its full-blown maturity, and again between both these phases and its final scattering of petals on the ground, all in the course of a week or two. It is rich in perfume, which seems to emanate from its dense and delicate folds of petals. It is vulnerable to the canker-worm. And it grows on a plant with thorns. All these features have entered into its range of symbolic uses.

I chose this excerpt because I believe it closely mirrors the stages of life for a human:

• The popularity of the color red (as in the blood)


• Roses blooming (as in birth or coming-of-age)


• The variation between the bud and full-bloom  (as in a child and an adult)


• The end stage where the rose withers and the petals fall  (human hair shedding and/or even death)


• Thorns which can be all the troubles/hurt a human may face throughout life

As a side note, although the passage I chose mentions the popularity of the red rose I chose to upload a picture of a blue rose. Not only is blue my favorite color I think the blue rose draws more attention and is much less cliché.  It is very uncommon to send someone blue roses however I would prefer to receive those instead of red because I think they would be more thoughtful. I also think it's relevant to the topic because like the many symbolic uses of the rose the color blue is also used as a symbol for moods (as in a person "feeling blue")


Source Citation

"Rose." Dictionary of Literary Symbols. Ed. Michael Ferber. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge, 1999. 172-177. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 7 Mar. 2012.