Portrait Series: Pieris and the Muses

"A little learning is a dang'rous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:”

The Pieris flower derives its name from Pieria and the Pierian Spring — home of the nine daughters of King Pierus in Greek mythology. 

The daughters, known as the Pierides believed their singing was a match to the nine Muses in Mount Helicon, which their father had named them after — and so challenged the goddesses to a contest. 

When the Muses won they transformed the maidens into chattering magpies. 

The myth was popularised in Alexander Pope’s poem An Essay on Criticism (1711):

Lines 215 to 232 –
"A little learning is a dang'rous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Fir'd at first sight with what the Muse imparts,
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Arts,
While from the bounded level of our mind
Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind;
But more advanc'd, behold with strange surprise
New distant scenes of endless science rise!
So pleas'd at first the towering Alps we try,
Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky,
Th' eternal snows appear already past,
And the first clouds and mountains seem the last;
But, those attain'd, we tremble to survey
The growing labours of the lengthen'd way,
Th' increasing prospects tire our wand'ring eyes,
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!"

Do you have a favourite flower or know of one with an interesting history? Leave it in the comments below…