“The bloomes of martyrdom”: Flowers and Wounds in Richard Crashaw’s poetry

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In the first stanza of the “Sospetto d’Herode,” Crashaw’s translation of Marino’s poem on the biblical story of the Slaughter of the Innocents, the poetic voice refers to the “thousand sweet Babes” torn “from their Mothers Breasts” as “the bloomes of martyrdom,” a floral metaphor which does not occur in Marino’s original. Flowers are conventionally imbued with spiritual meaning in Christian texts and Crashaw’s poetic association of flowers and wounds is notably reminiscent of Francis de Sales’s writings. Indeed, the Bishop of Geneva repeatedly depicted martyrdom and mystical experiences with botanical metaphors. However, the vivid sensuousness Crashaw endows flowers with raises the question of their aptness to portray states of heightened devotion and to be invested with spiritual symbolism. We contend that the association of flowers and wounds in Crashaw’s sacred poetry sheds light on a piety that emphasises the importance of the senses and of corporality to reach God. Adopting a formalist and historicist perspective we will investigate the sensuousness of flowers that facilitates their metaphorical assimilation with the human body. We will also see that the visually evocative association of flowers and wounds pertains to a process of transformation and brings together opposites to eroticise death in a way which is highly suggestive of the writings of catholic mystics.