Narcissus in culture

Commonly called daffodil or jonquil, the plant is associated with a number of themes in different cultures, ranging from death to good fortune.

In classical Graeco-Roman literature the narcissus is associated with both the myth of the youth who was turned into a flower of that time, and with the Goddess Persephone, snatched into the underworld as she gathered their blooms.

In western European culture narcissi and daffodils are among the most celebrated flowers in English literature, from Gower to Day-Lewis, while the best known poem is probably that of Wordsworth.

[11][12] Although prized as an ornamental flower, some people consider narcissi unlucky, because they hang their heads implying misfortune, and hence refuse to have them in the house.

Narcissi have been used decoratively for a long time, a wreath of white-flowered N. tazetta having been found in an ancient Egyptian grave, and in frescoes on the excavated walls of Pompeii.

[24] εϊματα μέν χροϊ έστο, τά ο'ι Χάριτες τε και Ώραι ποίησαν και έβαφαν έν άνθεσιν είαρινοΐσιν δσσα φέρουσ' ωραι, εν τε κρόκωι έν θ' ΰακ'ινθωι έν τε ϊωι θαλέθοντι ρόδου τ ένι ανθεί καλώι ήδέϊ νεκταρέωι έν τ άμβροσίαις καλνκεσσιν άνθεσι ναρκίσσου καλλιρρόου δ' oia Αφροδίτη ώραις παντοίαις τεθνωμένα εϊματα έστο.She clothed herself with garments which the Graces and Hours had made for her and dyed in flowers of spring -- such flowers as the Seasons wear -- in crocus and hyacinth and flourishing violet and the rose's lovely bloom, so sweet and delicious, and heavenly buds, the flowers of the narcissus and lily.

In such perfumed garments is Aphrodite clothed at all seasonsThe legend of Persephone comes to us primarily in the anonymous seventh century BC Homeric Hymn To Demeter (Εἲς Δημήτραν).

νάρκισσόν θ᾽, ὃν φῦσε δόλον καλυκώπιδι κούρῃΓαῖα Διὸς βουλῇσι χαριζομένη Πολυδέκτῃ,θαυμαστὸν γανόωντα: σέβας τό γε πᾶσιν ἰδέσθαιἀθανάτοις τε θεοῖς ἠδὲ θνητοῖς ἀνθρώποις:τοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ ῥίζης ἑκατὸν κάρα ἐξεπεφύκει:κὦζ᾽ ἥδιστ᾽ ὀδμή, πᾶς τ᾽ οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὕπερθενγαῖά τε πᾶσ᾽ ἐγελάσσε καὶ ἁλμυρὸν οἶδμα θαλάσσης The narcissus, which Earth made to grow at the will of Zeus and to please the Host of Many, to be a snare for the bloom-like girl — a marvellous, radiant flower.

It was a thing of awe whether for deathless gods or mortal men to see: from its root grew a hundred blooms and it smelled most sweetly, so that all wide heaven above and the whole earth and the sea's salt swell laughed for joyThe flower, she later recounts to her mother was the last flower she reached for; "νάρκισσόν θ᾽, ὃν ἔφυσ᾽ ὥς περ κρόκον εὐρεῖα χθών" (l. 428)[28] "and the narcissus which the wide earth caused to grow yellow as a crocus".

[32] Jebb comments here that νάρκισσος is the flower of imminent death with its fragrance being νάρκη or narcotic, emphasised by its pale white colour.

[31] θάλλει δ ουρανίας υπ άχναςο καλλίβοτρυς κατ ημαρ αεινάρκισσος, μεγάλαιν θεαίναρχαιον στεφάνωμ And, fed on heavenly dew,the narcissus blooms day by day with its fair clusters;it is the ancient crown of the Great Goddesses.Plutarch refers to this in his Symposiacs as follows, "and the daffodil, because it benumbs the nerves and causes a stupid narcotic heaviness in the limbs, and therefore Sophocles calls it the ancient garland flower of the great (that is, the earthy) gods.

"[34] This reference to Sophocles' "crown of the great Goddesses", here is the source of the commonly quoted phrase in the English literature "Chaplet of the infernal Gods" incorrectly attributed to Socrates.

[10] Moschus describes fragrant narcissi (νάρκισσον ἐΰπνοον)[36] in his Idylls (Εἰδύλλια), "Now the girls so soon as they were come to the flowering meadows took great delight in various sorts of flowers whereof one would pluck sweet breathed narcissus" (Europa and the Bull),[10][37] [notes 2] and narcissi were said to have been part of Europa's floral headdress.

[20][42][notes 3] A similar account is provided by Lucian (Greek: Λουκιανὸς, c. 125 – 180 AD) in his Necyomantia or Menippus (Μένιππος ἢ Νεκυομαντεία), describing asphodel in the underworld (Nec.

Pausanias, deferring to Pamphos, believed that the myth of Persephone long antedated that of Narcissus, and hence discounts the idea the flower was named after the youth.

νάρκισσον δὲ ἄνθος ἡ γῆ καὶ πρότερον ἔφυεν ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν, εἰ τοῖς Πάμφω τεκμαίρεσθαι χρή τι ἡμᾶς ἔπεσι: γεγονὼς γὰρ πολλοῖς πρότερον ἔτεσιν ἢ Νάρκισσος ὁ Θεσπιεὺς Κόρην τὴν Δήμητρός φησιν ἁρπασθῆναι παίζουσαν καὶ ἄνθη συλλέγουσαν, ἁρπασθῆναι δὲ οὐκ ἴοις ἀπατηθεῖσαν ἀλλὰ ναρκίσσοις.

[56] Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BC – 17 AD) was also familiar with narcissi, in his recounting of the self-loving youth who is turned into the flower, in the third book of his Metamorphoses l. 509 "croceum pro corpore florem inveniunt, foliis medium cingemtibus albis"[57] (They came upon a flower, instead of his body, with white petals surrounding a yellow heart)[58] and also the fifth book of his Fasti l. 201 "Tu quoque nomen habes cultos, Narcisse, per hortos"[59] (You too, Narcissus, were known among the gardens).

63–64 "adice narcissi bis sex sine cortice bulbos, strenua quos puro marmore dextra terat" (add twelve narcissus bulbs after removing their skin, and pound them vigorously on a pure marble mortar).

For oft when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude, And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the Daffodils.

No flower has received more poetic description except the rose and the lily, with poems by authors including John Gower, Spenser, Constable, Shakespeare, Addison and Thomson, together with Milton (see Roman culture, above), Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats.

[81] Yet the description given of daffodils by his sister, Dorothy is just as poetic, if not more so,[82] just that her poetry was prose and appears almost an unconscious imitation of first section of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (see Greek culture, above);[83][82] 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 & the rest tossed & reeled & danced & seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changingAmong their contemporaries, Keats refers to daffodils among those things capable of bringing 'joy for ever'; A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:...Some shape of beauty moves away the pall...and such are daffodils, With the green world they live inwhile Shelley looks back to the legend in his description of the flower; And narcissi, the fairest among them all,Who gaze on their eyes in the stream’s recess,Till they die of their own dear lovelinessA.

E. Housman, using one of the daffodil's more symbolic names (see Symbols), wrote the Spring poem The Lent Lily in his collection A Shropshire Lad, describing the traditional Easter death of the daffodil: And there's the Lenten lily, That has not long to stay, And dies on Easter dayLater Cecil Day-Lewis wrote: Now the full throated daffodils, Our trumpeters in gold, Call resurrection from the ground, And bid the year be boldIn Black Narcissus (1939) Rumer Godden describes the disorientation of English nuns in the Indian Himalayas, and gives the plant name an unexpected twist, alluding both to narcissism and the effect of the perfume Narcisse Noir (Caron) on others.

Paul Gerhardt, a pastor and hymn writer wrote: Narzissus und die TulipanDie ziehen sich viel schöner anAls Salomonis SeideDaffodil and tulip are dressed more beautifully than Solomon's silkIn the visual arts, narcissi are depicted in three different contexts, mythological (Narcissus, Persephone), floral art, or landscapes.

For instance there is a crucifixion scene by the Westfälischer Meister in Köln (c. 1415 – 1435) in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne,[91] where daffodils symbolise not only death but also hope in the resurrection, because they are perennial and bloom at Easter.

[95] Tazetta daffodils were probably introduced to China, where they became naturalised, by Arab traders travelling the Silk Road at some time prior to the beginning of the Song dynasty (i.e. before 960), presumably for their claimed medicinal properties.

[citation needed] There are many legends in Chinese culture associated with Narcissus,[98][99] including one of a poor but good man who was brought great wealth by this flower.

[104] With the additional use of props such as ribbons, artificial eyes, bindings and florists' wire, even more elaborate scenarios can be created, representing traditional subjects such as roosters, cranes, flower baskets and even teapots.

"Daffodil Days", first instituted in Toronto in 1957 by the Canadian Cancer Society,[8] are organized to raise funds by offering the flowers in return for a donation.