Have you ever wondered what the bouquet of roses you have given might symbolise, aside from being a token of love on Valentine’s Day? Indeed, there exists a whole ‘language’ of flowers ready to be learnt.

In the nineteenth century, the presence of flowers in society reached its peak and floriography, the language of flowers, became a means of communication in which self-expression was made easier.

The publication of a dictionary in the coding of flowers by Louise Cortambert in 1819 saw this ‘language’ become more prevalent in Victorian society, and the giving of flowers was commonly used to exchange a message.

 

The lily is a flower often referenced in literature and its many meanings have made it a widely used symbol. The white lily commonly represents innocence and purity and in Christianity is often depicted as a symbol for the Virgin Mary or the Resurrection of Christ. As well as this, the lily symbolises femininity and fertility taken from the Greek myth of Zeus and Hera.

Contrastingly, the white lily is one of the most common flowers to represent death, commonly used at funerals: white lilies foreshadow death in Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, and similar use of the lily symbolism is used by James Joyce in Dubliners.

 

The contrasting meanings can also be seen in the rose. In Ancient Rome, the rose symbolised victory, pride, and love, from which the modern interpretation of the rose as a symbol of love has stemmed.

However, in the Bible, the rose acts as a symbol of suffering and the Fall from grace. Some Christians believe that thorns developed on the rose following The Fall in order to serve as a reminder of the sins of man.

 

Though the use of flowers as a form of communication has certainly decreased since the Victorian era, today there is still more meaning to the exchanging or displaying of flowers than one might think.

While we may not walk around with our floral dictionaries ready to decipher a secret message as the Victorians did, the symbolism of flowers remains present in our culture today.