The Language of Flowers
As part of the plant, flowers make an integral section of nature. They are significant in the environment of its special characteristics and aesthetic value. Due to its color, aroma and attractive shapes, the flower is an crucial element in nature. As a result, people commenced to realize and appreciate the splendor prompting many writers and poets to use the flowers in metaphors and their writings, and as time progress, they began to provide meaning to the flowers primarily based on the plants’ behavior and its appearance. In fact, the language of flowers used to be introduced by an Englishwoman author and poet alongside the first Floriography dictionary.
The Popularization of Floriography
Floriography is a term that defines the language of the flowers. During 18th and 19th century, the language of the flowers has popularized through France, England, during the Victorian era, and it was later brought to the United States. Ever since, Floriography has developed into a language for communication adding to the long list of communication types. Each flower symbolized something and has its meaning, so the Victorians learned how to use the different flowers to send messages. Instead of using words, Victorian-era occupants used flowers. Considering that there are many rules and many expectations of specific behaviors, people used the meaning of the flower to create a secret coded message that the message respondents understood.
The Complexity of Flower Language
The language of flowers involved more than the simple meaning given to a flower. It also included combining, presenting, and even receiving of flowers. The different arrangement would have various purposes, and the message conveyed was not always positive despite the fact that people usually associate flowers with positive impressions and messages. For example, if you want to congratulate someone following an achievement, the best way to arrange the flowers would be a bouquet with yellow roses, yellow lilies, fennel, and oak leaves rather than a bouquet with just yellow roses and daisy. In this case, yellow roses meant a high accomplishment, the yellow lilies intended elegance, fennel meant to praise, and the oak leaves meant strength. When they are combined, the whole bouquet creates a thick and rich sense of meaning. As a matter of facts, it’s incredible how flowers can be used to achieve higher feelings and convey detailed messages without using any words.
Flowers and Women
According to the Victorians, a woman is expected to behave in a way that is almost similar to how a flower is. The characteristics exhibited by a flower sets the standard of how a woman should act. Therefore, women are taught how to best present themselves in a manner that resembles how bouquet is presented. For instance, in the painting “The Daughters of Our Empire. England: The Primrose” by Edwin Long, there’s an image of a girl wearing a long pink dress who is carrying a pile of primroses, which is a yellow kind of flower, with her dress. In this particular painting, the color of the flowers can be used to deduce its meaning. Since the primrose’s color is yellow, the interpretation is that the yellow primrose represents her youth and young love implying that the girl is youthful and is in love.
Victorian Flower Arrangements
The flower arrangement during the Victorian era often expressed people’s social status and gender. Seasonal flowers are appropriate for Victorian flower designs because, during the period, arrangements were typically made from flowers cut from the garden. Victorian’s obsession with flowers has also been shown through the paintings, their dresses, hats, and accessories. Almost every item they used had some aspects of flowers in it. The notable elements of the bouquet designs are the vibrant color contrast with a lot of foliage and the way the bouquet was held which indicated acceptance, acknowledgment, or approval. Some of these elements are relevant in today’s society, especially during special occasions. Many people still use flowers as ornaments on accessories and outfits to bring out the elegance of a person. Nevertheless, there are differences between the modern society and the Victorian era society regarding flowers access. At the moment, the upper and middle-class individual will buy flowers but it’s accessible to the lower class as well. Whereas in the Victorian age, the top and middle class had access to flowers in their garden and the lower class people did not have access to flowers unless they are working on flower farms owned by the upper and middle-class individuals. Similarly, the modern floral market is made up of three groups of people. The grower who owns the farm, middlemen and the customer. The grower and the customer are both categorized as either upper or lower class. In relation to this, today’s society has remarkably reduced the use of flowers as a channel for communication. However, floriography is a referral point when one needs to pick flowers for a particular occasion.
Understanding Flower Language
A majority of people thinks floriography is a cryptic message whose meanings are usually hidden and that it bears feelings that cannot be proclaimed publicly and are expressed through flowers instead. A proper understanding of the flower’s representation will help the receiver unveil the embedded message or emotions in the banquet of flowers, and without using any words, people can read and interpret the flower language because they have the knowledge and the understandings. Therefore, the ability to understand the message presented through flowers validate visual literacy.
