A carpet of marigolds

Was Shakespeare the first one using “carpet” to describe a sea of flowers?  The following is from Act 4 Scene 1 in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, in which Marina (the daughter of Pericles) laments her deceased nurse (nurse in Shakespeare’s days meant nanny) when he wrote,

The purple violets, and marigolds,

Shall, as a carpet [see photo below], hang upon thy grave,

8/27/12

MARINA

No, I will rob Tellus of her weed,

To strew thy green with flowers: the yellows, blues,

The purple violets, and marigolds,

Shall as a carpet hang upon thy grave,

While summer-days do last. Ay me! poor maid,

Born in a tempest, when my mother died,

This world to me is like a lasting storm,

Whirring me from my friends.

Right before Marina enters the stage, Dionyza was urging Leonine (the hired murderer) to kill Marina,

DIONYZA

Thy oath remember; thou hast sworn to do't:

'Tis but a blow, which never shall be known.

Thou canst not do a thing in the world so soon,

To yield thee so much profit. Let not conscience,

Which is but cold, inflaming love i' thy bosom,

Inflame too nicely; nor let pity, which

Even women have cast off, melt thee, but be

A soldier to thy purpose

LEONINE

I will do't; but yet she is a goodly creature.

DIONYZA

The fitter, then, the gods should have her. Here

she comes weeping for her only mistress' death.

Thou art resolved?

These lines show Dionyza is as wicked, if not as famous, as Lady Macbeth, when she urges her husband to kill King Duncan, impugning his manliness, inciting him to “screw up his courage”.  Shakespeare knew how to make his wicked women heartless.

8/22/12