Common Rue - Literary References

Literary References

Rue is mentioned in the Bible, Luke 11.42: "But woe unto you, Pharisees! For ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs".

Rue is well known for its symbolic meaning of regret and it has sometimes been called "herb-of-grace" in literary works. It is one of the flowers distributed by the mad Ophelia in William Shakespeare's Hamlet (IV.5):

"There's fennel for you, and columbines:

there's rue for you; and here's some for me:

we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays:

O you must wear your rue with a difference..."

It was planted by the gardener in Richard II to mark the spot where the Queen wept upon hearing news of Richard's capture (III.4.104–105):

"Here did she fall a tear, here in this place

I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace."

It is also given by the rusticated Perdita to her disguised royal father-in-law on the occasion of a sheep-shearing (Winter's Tale, IV.4):

"For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep

Seeming and savour all the winter long."

It is used by Michael in Milton's Paradise Lost to give Adam clear sight (11.414):

"Then purg'd with euphrasy and rue

The visual nerve, for he had much to see."

Rue is considered a national herb of Lithuania and it is the most frequently referred herb in Lithuanian folk songs, as an attribute of young girls, associated with virginity and maidenhood. It was common in traditional Lithuanian weddings for only virgins to wear a rue (ruta) at their wedding, a symbol to show their purity. Likewise, rue is prominent in the Ukrainian folklore, songs and culture.

In mythology, the basilisk, whose breath could cause plants to wilt and stones to crack, had no effect on rue. Weasels who were bitten by the basilisk would retreat and eat rue in order to recover and return to fight.

The Tacuinum Sanitatis, a medieval handbook on wellness, lists these properties of rue:

• Nature: Warm and dry in the third degree.
• Optimum: That which is grown near a fig tree.
• Usefulness: It sharpens the eyesight and dissipates flatulence.
• Dangers: It augments the sperm and dampens the desire for coitus.
• Neutralization of the Dangers: With foods that multiply the sperm.

Rue is used by Gulliver in "Gulliver's Travels" (by Jonathan Swift) when he returns to England after living among the "Houyhnhnms". Gulliver can no longer stand the smell of the English Yahoos (people), so he stuffs rue or tobacco in his nose to block out the smell. "I was at last bold enough to walk the street in his (Don Pedro's) company, but kept my nose well with rue, or sometimes with tobacco".

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Ron has to take essence of rue for a couple of weeks while recovering from the poisoned oak-matured mead he drank in Professor Slughorn's office.

In The Hunger Games, Rue is the name of a 12-year-old girl whom Katniss allies with in the arena.