Violet at the Shakespeare Garden

Viola odorata

The sweet violet is considered a spring flower and is short-lived, rarely surviving the heat of summer. Perhaps because of its brief life, it is often associated with death. Violets would have been plentiful in Shakespeare’s time and are mentioned in twelve of his plays and two of his sonnets. In King John, Salisbury says, “To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet… Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.” In Pericles, the violet is again linked to death. In Hamlet, Ophelia laments that her violets withered after the death of her father. Orsino, in Twelfth Night, compares the violet’s short life to the fleeting sound of music.

The violet carries multiple meanings, including modesty, loyalty, faithfulness, beauty, elegance, and hope.

In Shakespeare’s time, violets were used not only for medicinal purposes but also as a salad ingredient.

The sweet violet is an herbaceous perennial that grows easily, spreading readily and tolerating a range of light and soil conditions. However, it shuns hot weather and tends to wither in the summer heat. It is hardy in zones 4 through 9 and is attractive to both pollinators and people.

Shakespeare references to violet:

  • Ophelia speaking:

    I would give you some violets,

    But they withered all when my father died.

    Duchess of York speaking:

    Welcome, my sone; who are the violets now,

    That strew the green lap of the new-come spring?

  • Henry speaking:

    I think the king is but a man, as I am; the

    Violet smells to him as it doth to me.