To work a wonder, God, would have her shown,
At once, a bud, and yet a rose full-blown. Robert Herrick, The Virgin Mary, 1647
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared. Tupac Shakur, The Rose That Grew from Concrete
Stop looking for a place where a late rose may yet linger. Horace, Odes
Roses are flowering in Picardy,
But there’s never a rose like you. Frederick Weatherly, Roses of Picardy
From off the brier pluck a white rose with me ...
Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me. William Shakespeare, I Henry VI II iv 30&33, Plantagenet
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet 1996 starring Leonardo DiCaprio & Brian Dennehy & Christina Pickles & Dash Mihok & Jesse Bradford & Zak Orth & Claire Danes & Paul Sorvino & Diane Venora & John Leguizamo & Harold Perrineau & Pete Postlethwaite & Paul Rudd & Vondie Curtis-Hall et al, director Baz Luhrmann, Juliet
But earthlier happy is the rose distilled,
Than that which withering on the virgin thorn
Grows lives, and dies, in single blessedness. William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
For women are as roses, whose fair flower
Being once displayed, doth fall that very hour. William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night II iv 37-38
He wears the rose
Of youth upon him. William Shakespeare, Anthony & Cleopatra III xi 20
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose. John Milton, Paradise Lost IV:256
I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too. John Keats, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, 1820
As though a rose should shut, and be a bud again. John Keats, The Eve of St Agnes, 1820
The vermeil rose had blown
In frightful scarlet, and its thorns outgrown
Like spiked aloe. John Keats, Endymion I:694
But the rose leaves herself upon the brier,
For winds to kiss and grateful bees to feed. John Keats, On Fame
I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields,
A fresh-blown musk-rose; ’twas the first that threw
Its sweets upon the summer. John Keats, To a Friend Who Sent Some Roses
And mid-May’s eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eyes. John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale
And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies. Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to his Love
You may break, you may shatter the case, if you will,
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still. Thomas Moore, Irish Melodies 1807
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
Or give sigh for sigh. Thomas Moore, Last Rose of Summer
But he who dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose. Anne Brontë
The rose of all the world is not for me.
I want for my part
Only the little white rose of Scotland
That smells sharp and sweet – and breaks the heart. George MacDonald
White roses and red roses: those were beautiful colours to think of. And the cards for first place and second place and third place were beautiful colours too: pink and cream and lavender. Lavender and cream and pink roses were beautiful to think of. Perhaps a wild rose might be like those colours and he remembered the song about the wild rose blossoms on the little green place. But you could not have a green rose. But perhaps somewhere in the world you could. James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
How much for the roses? Lovely day, isn’t it? … It’s the nicest day for four years. Dusty Ermine 1936 starring Margaret Rutherford & Ronald Squire & Jane Baxter & Anthony Bushell & Arthur Macrae & Athole Stewart & Katie Johnson & Davina Craig & Austin Trevor & Felix Aylmer & Hal Gordon et al, director Bernard Vorhaus, released man to flower-seller