About The Blue Flower

“The desire of the moth for the star,

Of the night for the morrow,

The devotion of something afar

From the sphere of our sorrow.” 

 ~”To---” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

​

The blue flower, as a literary symbol, represents inspiration, longing for the beautiful, for the presently unattainable, for that which is beyond.  It has connotations of desire and love, the divine, the metaphysical, and hope. It is “the desire of the moth for the star.”  Novalis, an early German Romantic philosopher, novelist, poet, and mystic first used “the blue flower” as the symbol it is today in his novel, Heinrich von Ofterdingen, which describes the romantic longings of a young poet.  

​

C.S. Lewis discusses his lifelong relationship with the blue flower in his autobiographical book, Surprised by Joy. At the age of six, Lewis had his first encounter with what he calls “joy,” when he was first overcome by unreachable beauty.  This moment in Lewis’s life made him forever what he called a “votary of the Blue Flower.”  I chose to write this inspirational blog because I, too, am a votary of the blue flower, and I want to connect with other votaries. 

​

To read more about the blue flower as a symbol, see my full-length post entitled "The Blue Flower."

​

About Me

​

My name is Melissa Williams, and by day I am a middle school librarian for a private, independent day school in southern Maine.  While libraries are definitely my lifelong love, so too is writing.  My first Masters degree is in Modernist Literature. I am a runner, an INFJ, and am devoted to my family, house, and gardens. I live with my husband, two wonderful children, and four cats in a small farmhouse. 

​

​