In this remarkable volume, one of Canada's most celebrated artists has collaborated with a distinguished professor of English to create a work of art and scholarship both beautiful and
informative.Sir Phillip Sydney, one of the earliest of English literary critics, claimed that the purpose of `poesie', or literature, was `to teach and to delight'. A Gathering of
Flowers accomplishes both goals with great success. The artist's astonishingly realistic images are accompanied by a succinct education in the nature and properties of flowers, and by the
quotations and explication of lines written by the greatest poet of the English language. Shakespeare used flower imagery in many of his plays, providing dramatic significance as well as
aeshetic effect. David Hoeniger cites many of these, including Oberon's vivid ..`I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlip and the noffdding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight.' For each quotation, he provides an explanation of the significance or symbolism of the floral image. The beauty of Shakespeare's poetry is
complemented by the vivid artistry of the engravings. This co-operative effort of artist and scholar has been most successful in fulfilling Sir Phillip's stated purpose, to teach and to
delight.
