Maypoles, Mary, Flowers, and Poets: The Many Enchantments of May

Maypoles, Mary, Flowers, and Poets: The Many Enchantments of May
"May Day Morning," 1890-1894, by Edwin Austin Abbey. Oil on canvas; 42 inches by 68 inches. Yale University Art Gallery, Yale. Public Domain
Jeff Minick
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“May is pretty, May is mild, Dances like a happy child; Sing out, robin; spring out, flowers; April went with all her showers And the world is green again. ...”

In many lands around the world, the fifth month of the calendar year signals the end of winter and heralds the arrival of summer. The trees sway in warm, sweet breezes, the lawns gown themselves in green, and the very air seems fresh as dawn all day.
And those opening lines to Annette Wynne’s poem for children are but one tiny bud in the great garden of literature, the arts, and custom itself that salutes this month.
Jeff Minick
Jeff Minick
Author
Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.
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