WILDFLOWERS AND HOTHOUSE-PLANTS

by: Henrik Ibsen

"OOD Heavens, man, what a freak of taste!

What blindness to form and feature!

The girl's no beauty, and might be placed

As a hoydenish kind of creature."

 

No doubt it were more in the current tone

And the tide today we move in,

If I could but choose me to make my own

A type of our average woman.

 

Like winter blossoms they all unfold

Their primly maturing glory;

Like pot-grown plants in the tepid mould

Of a window conservatory.

 

They sleep by rule and by rule they wake,

Each tendril is taught its duties;

Were I worldly-wise, yes, my choice I'd make

From our stock of average beauties.

 

For worldly wisdom what do I care?

I am sick of its prating mummers;

She breathes of the field and the open air,

And the fragrance of sixteen summers.

• Henrik Ibsen - A biography of the Norwegian poet and dramatist and analysis of his works.
• Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) - A biography of the Norwegian poet and dramatist, plus links to purchase all of his works currently in print.
• Peanuts and the Ibsen Drama - A first-hand account of a performance of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler by Mrs. Fiske.
• The Task of the Poet - Full text of a speech given by Ibsen to a group of Norwegian Students on September 10, 1874.
• Henrik Ibsen: Bibliography - A bibliography of the works of Henrik Ibsen; includes a list of critical and biographical resources.
• Purchase books by Henrik Ibsen