Daffodils – Day 3

 

Daffodils – Day 3

Daffodil’s Return, Bliss Carman (1861-1929)

What matter if the sun be lost?

What matter though the sky be gray?

There’s joy enough about the house,

For Daffodil comes home today.

 

There’s news of swallows on the air,

There’s word of April on the way,

They’re calling flowers within the street,

And Daffodil comes home today.

 

O who would care what fate may bring,

Or what the years may take away!

There’s life enough within the hour,

For Daffodil comes home today.

Although we refer to these flowers are daffodils, their botanical name is Narcissus. In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a beautiful, self-absorbed youth, who fell in love with his own reflection. In despair at being unable to reach the gorgeous vision he died and in his place there grew a lovely flower. The drooping flowers of the plant are said to represent Narcissus bending over the pool to admire his reflection.

Narcissus also gives his name to narcissism, or narcissistic personality disorder, an affliction which causes the subject to display grandiosity and to demand excessive attention and admiration. Narcissists also show a marked lack of empathy. Some examples are Alexander the Great, Henry VIII, Catherine the Great, Adolf Hitler and possibly an orange-hued politician from across the pond.

Narcissus derives from the Greek ‘narkōticos’, meaning to ‘make stiff or numb’. Its etymology probably relates to the daffodil's toxicity, since all parts of the plant are poisonous. Care should be taken when cutting daffodil stems because the alkaloids in the sap can cause a rash if they come into contact with the skin.

Daffodils have inspired painters and poets. William Wordsworth’s well-known poem,,written in 1804, 6 was conceived on a walk in 1802 with his sister Dorothy in the Lake District. Dorothy described the sight in her journal.

When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side, we fancied that the lake had floated the seed ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up – But as we went along there were more and yet more and at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here and there a little knot and a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity and unity and life of that one busy highway – We rested again and again. The Bays were stormy and we heard the waves at different distances and in the middle of the water like the Sea.

Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere Journal Thursday, 15 April 1802

Artists who have been drawn to paint daffodils have included Berthe Morisot (1841–1892)

Daffodils

Carl Thomsen (1847-1912)

Arranging daffodils

Floris Hendrik Verster (1861-1927)

Daffodils in a ginger jar

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925)

Still life with daffodils

Thomas Corsan Morton (1859-1928)

Daffodils

Annie L Pressland (1862-1933)

Daffodils

Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947)

Daffodils in a Green Pot

All painting images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Daffodils are often depicted on Easter cards and are sometimes called the Lent or Lenten lily because they flower around Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the six weeks of Lent leading to Easter.