by Editor Wicher Bos 
Edited and published by Head Editor Yvette Depaepe, the 7th of January 2022

Another article in my series on photography and poetry. Listen to a wonderful poem by Robert Frost (1874-1963), an American poet. He wrote “The Rose Family” published in 1927. What happened? In the past, botanists classified plants using plant morphology, the visual characteristics such as how many leaves or petals a plant has. Then science led to new insights and botanical re-classifications. By the early 1900s, botanists reclassified the Plum, and Apple families as subfamilies within the Rose family (Rosaceae). This reclassification triggered Frost to write his poem. Here is the poem:
 

THE ROSE FAMILY

The rose is a rose,
And was always a rose.
But the theory now goes
And the pear is, and so’s
The plum, I suppose.

The dear only knows
What will next prove a rose.

You, of course, are a rose –
But were always a rose. 

'Rose & Apples' by Catherine W.

Re-classifications happens – progressive insights we call it… why did it inspire a poet? Well, a rose is not just a flower, is it? Just add a rose to a man and you know it… It is a symbol, a personification of love, a noble token of something greater than us… and now all of a sudden it seems part of an ordinary family…

Roses have a literal meaning in the poem, scientifically, an apple tree is part of the rose family (Rosea), and so is a pear or plum tree. However, as mentioned roses are a metaphor as well, that is about how society interprets and assigns meaning to them.

I read several analyses on this poem, all taking a slightly different angle. Let me quote the ones that I liked:
“It means that society's vision of beauty is changing...”
“Logic and proof cannot be used to prove beauty. Nobody can "prove" beauty. “You” (the reader) may not look like the person next to you who gets called pretty and beautiful, but you are...”
“The beauty of the rose represents something classic, a lasting beauty. This ‘classicity’ of the beauty of the rose is exactly what is satirized here...”

So, the poem could even be read as satire… Every analyst hears Frost saying different things… similarly, everyone sees different things in a photo… depending on context and personal situation. That is probably THE magic of art and artistic creations…

Diversity of the rose…

The images I discovered in the 1x.com data-store prove that a rose can symbolize a wide variety of meaning. 

Let me list a few:

First it represents the actual flower…
Sometimes it is just a product you can harvest and sell…
Then it is applied as a beauty attribute… sometimes not even as real roses, just their appearance as tattoo… or their shape as food is formed to theirs…
Then it becomes a symbol of beauty, or (absent) love… or femininity… or a political symbol like peace or freedom…
Then some see the opposite because of their thorny stems and see symbols like caution emerge …
To finish, others see beauty in their decay… 

Now my selection of images… and consider how strong the symbol of the rose actually is…

The rose as it beautiful self…

'bella ragazza' by Gilbert Claes

'My prize' by Margareth Perfoncio

'With a bouquet of garden roses' by Tatyana Skorokhod

'Still life with roses' by Alina Lankina

'Bow of wild roses' by Els Keurlinckx

The product Rose

'Rose Harvest Season' by Haitham AL Farsi

The food Rose

'Zucchini and prosciutto roses' by Diana Popescu

The decorative Rose

'The red rose' by Peppe Tambè

'Rose' by Michal Ciucias

'Vogue' by Josefina Melo

n/t by kenp

'Tiger Leg Monkey Tree Frog' by Linda D Lester

'Rose Garden' by 7 Flavor C/P

The Thorny Rose

'A Rose Among The Thorns' by Nur Ernehir

'Red Rose 3' by Sebastian Kisworo

'when everything must come to an end' by djeff act

'As time goes by...' by Heike Willers

'her last dance' by thierry ysebaert

The metaphorical Rose

'Shyness' by Alin Petrus

'Ageless Beauty' by nima.zadshir

'Victoria & Yasmin' by Alexandr Sutula
"It is a portrait of two girls of different ethnic groups who are friendly and not distracted by prejudice, but participate in the creation of a beautiful"

The Poetic Rose

'POETRY' by Adela Lia Rusu

'rose' by Matgorzata Kossakowska

'Garden beauties' by Ben Goossens

And many, many more Roses

'Lonely Day' by see plus

'The cause' by Golubeva Nataly

'Broken' by Toni Minchev
"My heart goes out to all victims of mass shootings and their families"

'Limbo' by Sukaria Nitihandawa

'Cage' by Kiyo Murakami

'North Las Vegas' by Kurt Klein

'Bad times for poets' by Marcos Gali

Outer beauty comes in all shapes and sizes…
Don't judge a book by its cover.

Did you enjoy this ‘rosy’ excursion? Remarks, improvements, or anything? Just let me know in the comments below…

Wicher