A - Z Blogging Challenge: V is for...Valentine.

'Roses are red, violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet and so are you.'

I bet we've all sent or received a Valentine's card at some time in our life with that verse in it - or at least some variation of it. It's a very popular little rhyme, but did you know that its origins have been traced back as far as 1590 to Edmund Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene'?

'She bath'd with roses red and violets blew
And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forest grew.'

(All the spelling is correct in case you're wondering.)

Later on, in 1784, a similar rhyme appeared in 'Gammer Gurton's Garland', a collection of English nursery rhymes.

Valentine's Card circa 1800

The rose is red, the violet's blue,
The honey's sweet and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it should be you.

I almost cried when I read it. It's so beautiful!

I'm a bit of a romantic at heart and I have to say, if I had been around 200 years ago and received a Valentine's card with this verse in it, I would have been smitten.

When I started this challenge I honestly thought that I would never find anything to do with the letter 'V' but, as I've said before, it's amazing what you can find if you just keep looking. To me, out of all the nursery rhymes I have written about so far, this has been my greatest 'find'.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Comments

Laura Clipson said…

Aww they're lovely rhymes, great find! :)

25 April 2012 at 14:02

Luana Krause said…

I LOVE Valentines! Brings back memories of Valentine parties at school. I love everything about Valentines day..the chocolate, the flowers, the cards, the Hallmark romance movies...Bring it ON!

25 April 2012 at 15:40

Denise said…

Loopyloo - thanks. I would love to have lived in the days when people actually spoke to each other like that!

Luana - I'm with you on that one! I know people say it's too commercialised but - who cares? We love it!

28 April 2012 at 08:49

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