Ophelia by John William Waterhouse Oil on canvas

Roses

George Eliot (1819 – 1880)

You love the roses – so do I. I wish
The sky would rain down roses, as they rain
From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?
Then all the valley would be pink and white
And soft to tread on. They would fall as light
As feathers, smelling sweet: and it would be
Like sleeping and yet waking, all at once.

George Eliot was the masculine pen name of the writer Mary Ann Evans, one of Victorian England’s leading novelists. Her first stories appeared in Blackwood’s magazine, and were followed by novels including The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), and Middlemarch (1862). Her work was popular with critics and the public alike, and in later years her novels were especially valued for their detailed portrayals of rural English life.

In the same period Evans turned her powerful mind from scholarly and critical writing to creative work. In 1857 she published a short story, “Amos Barton,” and took the pen name “George Eliot” in order to avoid the special aura then attached to lady novelists.

Biography for “George Eliot” was brought to you by: Wikipedia.

deletereply welshdoug wrote on Apr 14, ’09 Mill on The Floss and Silas Marner are great reads.

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Apr 14, ’09 I think Mill on The Floss was a movie, too, but I’m not sure.

deletereply 7jewel wrote on Apr 14, ’09 A favourite! Silas Marner won me over long ago…Clever woman! a rose petal carpet to walk on softly fragrant …a delight to the senses…Thank you for sharing

deletereply bostonsdandd wrote on Apr 14, ’09 *Sigh* That’s all I can do at the beauty of this poem. *Sigh* http://bostonsdandd.multiply.com/journal/item/284

deletereply sweetpotatoqueen wrote on Apr 16, ’09 Roses are my favorites so this poem really did appeal to me. How interesting that a male name brought credibility to writers in that time….how far we have come with equal rights.

deletereply forgetmenot525 wrote on May 1, ’09 Brilliant woman, what a shame she lived in a time when she needed to take a male alias