And clust’ring Lotus swelled the rising bed,
And sudden Hyacinths the turf bestrow
And flow’ry Crocus made the mountains glow.”
In allusion to the crisped and curled blossoms of the Hyacinth, poets have been fond of describing curly hair as Hyacinthine locks. Milton writes:—
“And Hyacinthine locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clustering.”
Byron makes the same comparison, and says the idea is common to both Eastern and Grecian poets. Collins has the same simile in his ‘Ode to Liberty.’
“The youths, whose locks divinely spreading,
Like vernal Hyacinths in sullen hue.”