Consider the Lilies
Samira Ahmed explores people's relationship with flowers. How have certain blooms been represented in the arts and thought to embody emotional, spiritual and philosophical ideas?
Samira Ahmed explores our representations of flowers, and our relationships with them.
Focusing on the flowers that have had a particular importance in her own life, she considers the meanings and cultural resonances of several species - passion-flower, bluebells, tulips and the exotically perfumed champa flower or frangipani.
Through music and poetry she explores how certain blooms have been thought to embody emotional, spiritual and philosophical ideas - and been used and subverted by artists, musicians and writers around the globe. She investigates how different countries have developed complex codes of communication through the gift of flowers and asks if sometimes it is better not to 'say it with flowers'. How can the giving and receiving of floral tributes be transformed from a simple gesture of affection to one of potential threat or insult?
The programme includes poetry by Sylvia Plath, Wendy Cope and Rabindranath Tagore, along with music from Katherine Jenkins, Ben E. King and the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
The readers are Olivia Onyehara, Matthew Wynn, and Haruka Kuroda.
Producer: Lucy Dichmont
A Whistledown production for 91热爆 Radio 4.
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Next
![]()
This week's Something Understood brought back memories and stories for Samira Ahmed.
Music Played
-
![]()
Ennio Morricone
Gabriel's Oboe
Performer: Ennio Morricone.- The Soundtrack to the Mission.
- Virgin records.
-
![]()
Mychael Danna
Aaj mera jee kardaa (Today My Heart Desires)
Performer: Mychael Danna and various.- Monsoon Wedding (Original Music Soundtrack).
- BMG.
-
![]()
Alessandro Scarlatti
Le Violette
Performer: Luciano Pavarotti.- Pavarotti at Carnegie Hall.
- Decca.
-
![]()
Ben E. King
Spanish Harlem
- Ben E. King: Anthology.
- Rhino Records.
-
![]()
L茅o Delibes
Flower Duet (Lakme)
Performer: Katherine Jenkins. Performer: Kiri Te Kanawa. Performer: Philharmonia Orchestra. Performer: Anthony Inglis.- Katherine Jenkins: The Ultimate Collection.
- Decca.
-
![]()
Bob Hilliard & Sammy Fain
Alice In Wonderland (Stereo Version)
Performer: The Dave Brubeck Quartet.- The Real Dave Brubeck.
- Sony.
-
![]()
Jon Gomm
Passionflower
- Secrets Nobody Keeps.
- Performing Chimp Records.
Readings
Title: Brazilian Fazenda
Author: P.K. Page
From: The Faber Book of 20th Century Women's Poetry
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Title: The Champa Flower
Author: Rabindranath Tagore
Publisher: Forgotten Books
Title: The Fable of the Rhododendron Stealers, from 聽Collected Poems
Author: Sylvia Plath
Publisher: Harper Collins
Title: Villette
Author: Charlotte Bronte
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions;
Title: The Language of Flowers
Author: Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Publisher: Macmillan; First Edition
Title: 'Flowers'; from the New Penguin Book of Love poetry
Author: Wendy Cope
Publisher: Penguin; 2Rev Ed edition
Title: The Semantics of Flowers on Memorial Day, from Insomnia Diary
Author: Bob Hicok
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Title: The Bluebell
Author: Anne Bronte
Publisher:聽 W&N; New Ed edition
Title: Tanka, from 'Disheveled Hair' (1901)
Author: Yosano Akiko
Translations and Text by Roger Pulvers
Broadcasts
- Sun 8 Mar 2015 06:0591热爆 Radio 4
- Sun 8 Mar 2015 23:3091热爆 Radio 4