Seona Anderson 18/06/2024 Seona Anderson 18/06/2024

GOOSEBERRY

Shakespeare Species Gooseberry: all the other gifts appurtentant to man… are not worth a gooseberry. Falstaff, the great giver and receiver of insults often uses nature based imagery.

Seona Anderson 17/06/2024 Seona Anderson 17/06/2024

ONION

Shakespeare Species Onion: Mine eyes smell onions. I shall weep anon. Onions were widely grown as vegetables and Shakespeare refers to Onions making your eyes water on several occasions.

Seona Anderson 16/06/2024 Seona Anderson 16/06/2024

BUTTERFLY

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, BUTTERFLY: I saw him run after a gilded butterfly. Butterflies are a recurring motif in Coriolanus but appear elsewhere as symbols of summer and beauty. There are 59 Butterfly species in the UK.

Seona Anderson 15/06/2024 Seona Anderson 15/06/2024

CATERPILLAR

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, CATERPILLAR: Bushy, Bagot and their complices, the caterpillars of the commonwealth. Caterpillar is used as an insult in several Shakespeare works.

Seona Anderson 14/06/2024 Seona Anderson 14/06/2024

CHERRY

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, CHERRY: O, how ripe in show thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow. Cherries symbolising lips is a regular image in Shakespeare’s works.

Seona Anderson 14/06/2024 Seona Anderson 14/06/2024

Fleur-de-luce

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, IRIS: have I a soul on which I’ll toss the fleur-de-luce of France. The heraldic symbol of France is based on an Iris. Introduced garden species of Iris such as Iris germanica were popular in Shakespeare’s time.

Seona Anderson 12/06/2024 Seona Anderson 12/06/2024

SNIPE

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, SNIPE: If I would time expend with such a snipe but for my sport and pleasure. Iago describes Roderigo as a ‘Snipe’, an unworthy hunting target. Snipes have undergone declines in recent decades.

Seona Anderson 12/06/2024 Seona Anderson 12/06/2024

WILD THYME

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, WILD THYME: I know a bank where the wild thyme blows. The flower filled bank is the favourite bed of Titania, Queen of the Fairies. There are several wild Thyme species in the UK.

Seona Anderson 10/06/2024 Seona Anderson 10/06/2024

STRAWBERRY

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, STRAWBERRY: the strawberry grows underneath the nettle. The Bishop of Ely compares Prince Hal with the Strawberry and Falstaff with the Nettle, a dubious guard under which to flourish.

Seona Anderson 09/06/2024 Seona Anderson 09/06/2024

HONEYSUCKLE

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, HONEYSUCKLE: So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle gently entwist. Honeysuckle is a sweet scented climber which grows wild or in gardens.

Seona Anderson 08/06/2024 Seona Anderson 08/06/2024

WAGTAIL

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, WAGTAIL: Spare my grey beard, you wagtail. The only mention of the dainty Wagtail is as an insult in King Lear.

Seona Anderson 07/06/2024 Seona Anderson 07/06/2024

FENNEL

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, FENNEL: even such delight among fresh fennel buds shall you inherit at my house tonight. Fennel was and is a popular herb & vegetable and is also used metaphorically in Shakespeare in several plays.

Seona Anderson 06/06/2024 Seona Anderson 06/06/2024

MUSKROSE

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, MUSKROSE: and stick muskroses in thy sleek smooth head. Muskroses have long been cultivated for their scent and spread around the world by humans.

Seona Anderson 05/06/2024 Seona Anderson 05/06/2024

BARBARY PIGEON

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, BARBARY PIGEON: I will be more jealous of thee than a Barbary cock-pigeon over his hen. Barbary Pigeon is probably a Guinea Fowl.

Seona Anderson 05/06/2024 Seona Anderson 05/06/2024

BURNET

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, BURNET: The even mead that erst brought forth the freckled cowslip, burnet and green clover. Burnets are found in summer grasslands.

Seona Anderson 05/06/2024 Seona Anderson 05/06/2024

PIGNUT

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, PIGNUT: And I with my long nails will dig thee pignuts. Caliban offers to show the shipwrecked sailors the wild foods of the island.

Seona Anderson 05/06/2024 Seona Anderson 05/06/2024

EYAS-MUSKET

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, EYAS-MUSKET: How now, my eyas-musket? What news with you? Mistress Ford call Robin, Falstaff’s page, an Eyas-Musket or Sparrow Hawk.

Seona Anderson 01/06/2024 Seona Anderson 01/06/2024

PEAS

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, PEAS: I had rather have a handful or two of dried peas. Peas were a fundamental foodstuff for humans and animals in Shakespeare’s world & were celebrated in art.

Seona Anderson 31/05/2024 Seona Anderson 31/05/2024

LION

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, LION: I thought thy heart had been wounded with the claws of a lion. Lions appear in over a hundred Shakespearean references as a symbol of strength and nobility.

Seona Anderson 31/05/2024 Seona Anderson 31/05/2024

THRUSH

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, THRUSH: With heigh, with heigh, the thrush and the jay. Song Thrushes are smaller than Mistle Thrushes and are declining in many habitats.