Chrysanthemums

"Every year, in November, at the season that follows the hour of the dead, the crowning and majestic hours of autumn, I go to visit the chrysanthemums ... They are indeed, the most universal, the most diverse of flowers."
Maurice Maeterlinck

I think chrysanthemums are evocative flowers, and these pink ones are in the kitchen window box. Their distinctive scent is not pleasant (or unpleasant) but the colors are vibrant, and they bloom so late in the year.

I remember reading a beautiful short story by D.H. Lawrence called "The Odour of Chrysanthemums." The story is simple and sad, but dense with symbolism. Like most of Lawrence's best fiction, it is based on his own life. The imagery is so powerful, to this day the story comes to mind whenever I see fall chrysanthemums.

The University of Nottingham has posted four working drafts of the story in their Special Collections for researchers. I'm a jaded librarian, but I still find this sort of thing amazing and wonderful. Lawrence came from a working class, coal mining village in this part of northern England, and I'd expect the university library has a rich collection of Lawrence manuscripts and memorabilia.

The image below is not of Lawrence, but gives an idea of the wretched life of miners at this time. It is from the National Coal Mining Museum for England.