The Language of Flowers and the (Re)productive Female Body in Hedwig Dohm’s Werde, die Du bist!

Abstract:In this article we examine the popularity of nineteenth-century language-of-flower books and floral symbols alongside contemporary discourses that align women with flowers and ascribe significance to a woman’s reproductive years while devaluing the life and contributions of the old woman. Through an examination of the natural world in Hedwig Dohm’s Werde, die Du bist! (1894), we argue that Dohm repurposes the female sexual metaphor of the flower to emphasize the elements needed for a mature woman to continue her development after her reproductive years.