The poem was originally named ‘Sickroom Tulips in Hospital’, but Sylvia Plath later shortened it to ‘Tulips’. This verse-free poem was written by Plath in 1961, when she was recuperating in the hospital from the removal of her appendix. The poem's narrator surrenders herself physically to the doctors, gives the anesthetist her medical history, and gives up everything in her possessions to the nurses. As she rests within the hospital's four white walls, yearning for a permanent escape, a friend presents her red tulips as get-well flowers in her hospital room. Her mild agony comes from the loud screaming of the 'excitable' tulips when they emerge. These specific flowers, in her opinion, serve as a painful reminder of a world she would want to forget. The tulips' vibrant color and lively movement only serve to mock her current state of despair. She is certain by the end of the poem that the flowers are "dangerous" since they possess the power to emotionally hurt her. Read full poem here.
I traveled to Amsterdam with my best friend Dara to celebrate my 31st birthday during the first week of May. Since college, the Netherlands has been a dream location of mine to visit. It was my very first time traveling outside of America as an adult and visiting Europe. On day two of our celebration, we made our way to Keukenhof Gardens, also referred to as the Garden of Europe. This botanical park is situated in the "Dune and Bulb Region" in South Holland province, southwest of Amsterdam and south of Haarlem. We were fortunate to visit the garden at the height of its tulip spectacle, and the scenery was unbelievable (I cried). I had never visited a botanical garden so overwhelmingly beautiful and vibrant as this one had been in my entire life. My phone quickly became overloaded with all of the tulip photos and videos I was taking at a rapid speed.
From afar, I caught sight of this wooden case stuffed with tulips dressed in the richest pigment of red. The red tulips were the only flowers that mattered to me when I made eye contact with them; all other flowers vanished from my consciousness. I had to get right next to them and admire their beauty up close.
“The tulips are too red in the first place, they hurt me Even through the gift paper I could hear them breathe”
— Excerpt from Tulips by Sylvia Plath
Okay, so I'm not laying in a sterile, white hospital room longing to escape a life that looked like Plath's poem—rather, I'm in the exact opposite position. Tulips make me think of all the different (good and bad) versions of myself. You know those obsessions you have had for all of your life? Mine include Alexa Chung, horror movies, and, of course, tulips. Sorry, Sylvia Plath.
I cannot recall a moment when they were not my favorites. They are my regularly purchased flowers for display in my apartment. Surprisingly, I don't have an emotional tale about how tulips became my favorite flower, as I do for everything else in my life (lol). I just wanted to write about how much I love tulips and incase anyone wants to buy me flowers ;)
Good thing every deli in New York City sells them.
I am a huge enthusiast of still life paintings, particularly Dutch ones. The gloomy backdrop for the plentiful, vivid colors of flowers and fruits is blended with insects, dead animals, and skulls. I schooled myself with a lot of video essays and podcasts about Dutch history and their artwork before heading to the Netherlands. From all the listening it made me realize how very, very little I know about the history of tulips and the relationship it has with Holland.
It is thought that the tulip originated in the Tien-Shan and Pamir-Alay mountain ranges in Central Asia, which are situated between present-day Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and far western China. From this point on, the wild flowers spread far and wide, reaching the westernmost parts of Asia, notably the Anatolian Peninsula and the Caucuses in the Ottoman Empire. The term "tulip" comes from the Persian word for "turban," and wild tulips were being grown and multiplied as early as 1,000 C.E. The tulip theme was swiftly incorporated into the Ottoman Empire's visual culture and spread throughout the decorative and fine arts, showing up in everything from paintings and illuminated manuscripts to pottery, tapestries, and tiles. The Ottomans placed great importance on gardens, which were greatly affected by Persian garden designs, which in turn had an impact on Western European gardens.
While there is much discussion over the precise date and the person who introduced the first tulips to the Dutch, it is certain that they arrived from the Ottoman Empire at some point in the second half of the 16th century. Tulips were a costly commodity to begin with, but as demand for them exceeded supply, a four-year frenzy known as Tulip Mania broke out during the second wave of the Bubonic Plague. This market reached its height in 1636, before it collapsed three years later. As the value of bulbs skyrocketed to the point that a few could afford an Amsterdam canal home, bulbs became a sort of currency. This era, which left many people penniless and some wealthy, is frequently referred to be the first economic bubble in capitalist history.
Anna Pavard, a horticultural writer, who has written numerous books specifically on tulips such as The Tulips. She describes the flower as “carried more political, social, economic, religious, intellectual, and cultural baggage than any other on earth.
Tulips Shall Grow is a 1942 stop-motion animated short film directed by George Pal that stars Rex Ingram and Victor Jory. I had never seen or heard of this short film until I conducted considerable research on media set in Holland and/or featuring tulips.
A Dutch boy named Jan falls in love with a girl named Janette, who lives in a windmill. He plays the accordion for her, and she brings him a cake. Their idyllic partnership is shattered when the "Screwballs," an aggressive military force comprised of actual metal balls with screws inside, surges into Holland. (The Nazis conquered the Netherlands in 1940.) The Screwballs wreak havoc on the environment. Fortunately, when it rains, the screwballs rust through. Jan finds Janette in the shattered ruins of her windmill, and the two reconcile as the tulips grow back.
The movie was chosen by the Library of Congress in 1997 to be preserved in the United States National Film Registry because it was "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Watch Tulips Shall Grown short here.
We happened to be in Amsterdam on May 5, which is Liberation Day, commemorating the end of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during WWII. Most sidewalks and roadways were closed off, making it impossible for Dara and I to get back to our hotel, but we became curious as to what was happening. Dara asked an officer what was going on, and she answered that it was Libration Day. She right away recognized we weren't from here.
“One tulip is like the next tulip, but not altogether. More or less like people – a general outline, then the stunning individual strokes”
— Excerpt from Upstream by Mary Oliver
Love,
Iris
Films mentioned in order:
Bed and Board (1970) Dir. François Truffaut
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) Dir. Pedro Almodóvar
Barbie (2023) Dir. Greta Gerwig
Blue Velvet (1986) Dir. David Lynch
The Whole Nine Yards (2000) Dir. Jonathan Lynn
Silsila (1981) Dir. Yash Chopra
Damaged (1992) Dir. Louis Malle
Tulips Shall Grow (1941) Dir. George Pal
Shiva Baby (2021) Dir. Emma Seligman
Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1972) Dir. Samuel Fuller
Lady and the Tramp (1955) Dir. Wilfred Jackson, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske
Alice in Wonderland (1951) Dir. Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson, Ben Sharpsteen
I wish I could respond by placing an image of a poem by Serubiri Moses about tulips. It made me laugh and buy his book of poems.