Myrtle
Appearance
Myrtle may refer to the family Myrtaceae, the genus Myrtus, or the species Myrtus communis.
Quotes
[edit]- Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
- Nor myrtle—which means chiefly love: and love
Is something awful which one dare not touch
So early o' mornings.- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh (1856), bk. II
- Julia will her Manlius wed,
Good with good, a blessed bed:
Like a myrtle tree in flower,
Taken from an Asian bower,
Where with many a dewy cup
Nymphs in play had nursed it up.- Catullus 61, as translated by Leigh Hunt, The Examiner (12 May 1816)
- Cp. Samuel Sheppard, "Epithalamium", The Loves of Amandus and Sophronia (1650)
- The myrtle (ensign of supreme command,
Consigned by Venus to Melissa's hand)
Not less capricious than a reigning fair,
Oft favors, oft rejects a lover's prayer;
In myrtle shades oft sings the happy swain,
In myrtle shades despairing ghosts complain.- Samuel Johnson, "Written at the Request of a Gentleman", l. 3; The Gentleman's Magazine (April 1779), p. 206
- Dark-green and gemm'd with flowers of snow,
With close uncrowded branches spread
Not proudly high, nor meanly low,
A graceful myrtle rear'd its head.- James Montgomery, "The Myrtle", st. 1, The Gentleman's Magazine (January 1839), p. 59
- While the myrtle, now idly entwin'd with his crown,
Like the wreath of Harmodius, shall cover his sword.- Thomas Moore, "O, Blame Not The Bard", st. 3, Memoirs (1800), p. 209
- For Adoration myrtles stay
To keep the garden from dismay,
And bless the sight from dearth.- Christopher Smart, A Song to David (1763)