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LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
AMARAN TH, 
IMMORTALITY. 
The unfading nature of this flower has caused 
it to he made the emblem of immortality. It 
is mentioned by Milton as forming the diadem 
of the angels:— 
With solemn adoration down they cast 
Their crowns, inwove with amaranth and gold— 
Immortal Amaranth, a flower which once 
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life. 
Began to bloom, but soon, for man’s offence. 
To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows 
And flowers aloft, shading the font of life. 
And where the river of bliss, through midst of heaven, 
Rolls o’er Elysian flowers her amber stream : 
With these that never fade, the spirits elect 
Bind their resplendent locks in wreath’d with beams. 
Tlie Amaranth has also been placed among 
funereal flowers. Homer describes the Thes¬ 
salians as wearing crowns of Amaranth at the 
funeral of Achilles. 
