Volume 19, 2007 - Brown University

Love Displayed through Nature
and Changing Nature
Scott Nelson
Fortunatus employs natural imagery in many of his poems, including “To Radegund
on Violets” and “To Radegund on Her Return.” In the former, Fortunatus
makes use of flowers as an evolving symbol of love throughout the poem. In the
latter, the natural imagery of the harvest captures Fortunatus’s emotions for
Radegund after returning from her forty day Lenten retreat. The natural imagery
employed in the two poems is distinct. In the first poem, natural symbols mutate
due to human emotions, and in the second, they statically represent the joys and
love incorporated into a lover’s return. Fortunatus utilizes different aspects of
nature in both poems for these separate purposes; in the first poem, he creates
floral images that develop with the lines, but in the second poem, he uses
descriptions of fruit and of the ripe harvest. Despite interpretive differences,
similarities exist between the two pieces, especially in terms of diction. These
poems both employ nature to express emotion, but they take very different
approaches in their imagery. They ultimately convey that love has the power to
alter the perception of nature and distort it to serve love.
In “To Radegund on Violets,” Fortunatus compares the natural imagery of
flowers to the human emotions attributed to the flowers. As the name suggests,
the poem revolves around flowers and their meaning for Fortunatus. At the
beginning the white lily (candida lilia) and the sweet red rose (suave rubore
rosa) are introduced as ideal flowers to signify his love. Fortunatus would pluck
them from a poor garden (legens. . .pauperis horti) and send them as a gift. It is
not that he would simply send them as a gift, but he would gladly (libens) send
them in return for a generous present (magnis). Since the lilies and the roses
come from a simple garden and yet can be traded for great gifts, this implies a
high potential value for the flower’s beauty. The value of nature changes with
human contact. The flower comes from a simple garden or a rural field, but once
it is plucked and thought of as a gift its beauty will make it worthy of royalty.
The flower is a gift of love, and, because of the love between two people, the
flower becomes more valuable to the recipient. The idea that simple and base
roots are worth more through human contact is continued throughout the poem.
Since the seasons are not producing the customary lilies and roses for Fortunatus,
he wishes for a second flower to bestow on Radegund. He is somewhat
embarrassed by this new plant, the weeds. He hides the weeds (vicias) in the
middle of the line, where they end his wish instead of start it. He will send the
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