Where did ‘April showers bring May flowers’ originate?
Of all the weather-related folklore and phrases, April showers bring May flowers has to be one of the most wellknown and popular ones.
I included that line at the end of a weather column earlier this week and then started thinking a bit more about where this phrase originated. It turns out there is debate about who should be credited for it.
The saying is often traced back to 1157 and a short poem written by Thomas Tusser. In that poem he wrote: “Sweet April showers do spring May flowers.”
On the other hand, a poem penned by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the fourteenth century reads in part: “Whan that April with his showres soote, the droughte of March hath perced to the roote. And bathed every veine in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flowr.”
That translates to: “When in April the sweet showers fall, that pierce March’s drought to the root and all, and bathed every vein in liquor that has power to generate therein and sire the flower.”
It’s a debate between Tusser’s specific mention of May flowers and Chaucer’s greater focus on March. Perhaps though, it was Chaucer’s poem that evolved over the years.
The inspiration around the poem is no doubt in relation to frequent showers that move through the U.K., in April. The phrase is heard quite often here in Atlantic Canada, but is there truth to it?
We do start to see precipitation falling as rain showers more often than snow in April. The days are getting longer, the sun's angle is higher, it gets warmer, and we see the return of blooming flowers, budding trees, and green grass.
So indeed, April showers do bring May flowers.