John Donne's numbers (2010)

The timing of this post is great! Not only V Day is coming up but the primrose is one of the earliest blooming flowers, hence the name (Primus since it's among to earliest flowers to apple: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primula_vulgaris).

Here's an interesting post about the of number of petals of the flower: the English (common) primrose has five, as mentioned by Donne but other members of the family have different numbers: https://www.sciencemusings.com/a-primrose-is-a-primrose-well...

Some interpretations of the complex symbolism and numerology of this poem is explained here: https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&u=googlescholar&id=GALE%.... I personally found the poem to be a bit too much and would take his (cruder but more direct) "The Flea" over this one: (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46467/the-flea).

Speaking of numbers, here's a simple but lovely one by Jonathan Swift, written for his long friend/lover/wife? Esther Johnson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Johnson):

  On Stella's Birth-day

     Stella this Day is thirty four,
  (We won't dispute a Year or more)
  However Stella, be not troubled,
  Although thy Size and Years are doubled,
  Since first I saw Thee at Sixteen
  The brightest Virgin of the Green,
  So little is thy Form declin'd
  Made up so largely in thy Mind.
  Oh, would it please the Gods to split
  Thy Beauty, Size, and Years, and Wit,
  No Age could furnish out a Pair
  Of Nymphs so gracefull, Wise and fair
  With half the Lustre of Your Eyes,
  With half thy Wit, thy Years and Size:
  And then before it grew too late,
  How should I beg of gentle Fate,
  (That either Nymph might have her Swain,)
  To split my Worship too in twain.