VI 



THE CARNATION 



In early German devotional poems the nelken, 

 the pink, carnation or gillyflower, is occasion- 

 ally used as the simile of the Virgin. Conrad 

 von Wiirtzburg writes: 



' Thou art a fragrant gillyflower sprig.' 



But it has been given no definite and individual 

 status as a symbol. 



Very frequently, however, in ecclesiastical 

 art, more particularly that of Venice and 

 Northern Italy, it is found where the rose 

 might be expected. It is placed with the lily 

 in a vase beside the Virgin, with the violet 

 before the Infant Christ, and with the wild 

 strawberries among the grass of Paradise. 



In Germany the carnation is seen falling 

 from above with heavenly roses, and occasion- 

 ally, even, in spite of the written legend, it re- 

 places the roses in Saint Dorothea's wreath. 



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