Poets know it, Valentine’s Day suitors know it, there is nothing like a rose to speak words of romance. From Shakespeare to country music the rose evokes love, lovers and lovelorn longing.
Be it the first flush of love or an unrequited crush, the fragrance, petals and thorns of the rose all lend themselves to the expression of romantic entanglements. Poets have sung the rose’s praise since the 7th century BC.
But the rose is not just a symbol of love. Because old European roses bloomed for only a few intoxicating weeks before wilting and withering they came to also symbolise the melancholic transience of all life. The fading beauty of the rose was linked to the eternal cycle of life and death, sustained by love.
