Volume 19, 2007 - Brown University

82 Scott Nelson
weeds, which he assures Radegund, are roses when brought in love. The roses
have metrical emphasis, located at the end of the line. Again, the worth of the
flowers changes due to human contact and love. The weeds are transformed to
roses as a result of the love and thought their plucking involves. The weeds continue
to evolve and take on greater worth throughout the poem.
In line six, the first line of the second half of the poem, Fortunatus refers to
his gift of love as fragrant herbs (odoriferas herbas). He uses the same verb
(mittere) in reference to these fragrant herbs as he uses in line four in describing
the lily and roses. Thus he provides a dictional link between the two gifts of
nature. In the next line, the identity of the love flowers changes once more, now
to shoots (germen). They are shoots of purple violets (purpurae violae) and they
hold a noble place (nobile habent). These sprouts from the lowly field are now
associated directly with royalty through the looks and smells they will
eventually exhibit. Then entering into the final couplet, Fortunatus’s intentions
become clear: the smell is the true gift. Since these are perennial flowers which
are not victim to the fickle seasons alluded to in line one, the smell and beauty
will return unceasingly each year. The gift of the weeds is filled with various
components, the actual plants, the aroma, and Fortunatus’s love. Fortunatus
chooses this flower since its beauty and growth and promise all reflect different
aspects of his love.
In “To Radegund on Her Return,” Fortunatus adapts nature in a different
way. The natural images show the effects Radegund and her presence have on
his life. In the first two couplets, he uses only one natural image. In the first line
he compares Radegund’s face to the sun, a radiant light (radianti lumine). Then
after a bare spell with no reference to nature, he begins to and through the
remainder of the poem portray Radegund as his personal fertility goddess. Outside
on this Easter Day, the crops just now rise (modo surgere semina sulcis).
Fortunatus reaps a harvest that same day (hodie meto). Once again, nature is
under the influence of humans and their emotions. The return of Radegund and,
by metonymy, his joys (recovas mea gaudia) cause a figurative harvest. For Fortunatus
the fruits, the sheaths of grain, the grape, the apples and the pears are
now all before him. Time is confused. April now does the job of August (quod
solet Augustus mensis, Aprilis agit). Human emotions have distorted the course
of nature.
Radegund creates a figurative harvest, a premature ripening, a disorder
amongst the seasons, with her return. However, the ripening and harvesting do
not occur in reality. Fortunatus makes this clear several times. First in lines five
and six, he says that the sprouts are just starting to grow, yet he can harvest
them. In lines nine and ten, the vines and buds are just beginning to come out,
yet the grape of August is ready for Fortunatus (et licet. . .uva simul). These
side-by-side comments, in which one line states the crops are just beginning and
the next says Fortunatus can now reap the bounty, dramatize the division
between real nature and the imaginary one. In the final couplet, he says that
while the land is bare and no ears of grain are showing, all the plenty is shining