Delve into the rich tapestry of rose-inspired expressions and their profound meanings.
From Shakespearean verses to timeless proverbs, explore how roses have symbolised various facets of human experience throughout history.
The symbolism of roses in everyday language
To put the roses in somebody’s cheeks is to make a person look healthy. To wear rose-coloured glasses is to think something is more pleasant than it really is, while to gather life’s roses is to savour the pleasures in life. If something is not a bed of roses there are struggles to withstand, but if everything is coming up roses, then a situation is successful in every way.
Navigating life’s challenges through rose metaphors
If you come up smelling of roses, then you have given the impression of deflecting a situation which might have damaged your credibility. You may seem innocent if you smell like a rose, but according to the proverb there’s no rose without a thorn, so you must overcome difficulties before being rewarded with something pleasant. We are often urged to take the time to smell the roses, as we rush past the garden in our frantically busy lives.
Shakespeare’s enduring rose analogy
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” comes from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and means that names are of no importance – it’s the nature of a person that truly matters:
“What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Gertrude Stein’s perspective on roses
In 1913, American writer Gertrude Stein wrote “Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” in her poem Sacred Emily, similarly meaning ‘things are what they are’. Her words appear in the song Moses Supposes performed by Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor in the 1952 musical Singin’ in the Rain:
“A Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is,
A rose is what Moses supposes his toes is,
Couldn’t be a lily or a daphi daphi dilli,
It’s gotta be a rose cuz it rhymes with mose!”
This article was originally published under the title Explore the World of Roses by our sister brand Lovatts Crosswords & Puzzles.
