The Seductive Poppy

The poppy is such a beautiful flower, but when I was in high school I never connected it with opium. I guess I just wasn’t into the drug scene back then. I was always an art student and one time the poppy captured my eye enough to draw it. I was able to capture all its details. To me, the poppy is very seductive, even without the opium. I often think of the festive dancers that have a poppy in their hair dancing a tango, or another lively dance. The poppy is a symbol of seductiveness with, or without the opium use.

There is a portrait of Lewis Carroll with a hookah. It just seems to fit with this chapter and our talks about him. I never made the connection that opium and other drugs had no restrictions in his day and there were no laws against it. It also surprised me about the cordials for putting children to sleep. I have often read stories about people in the nineteenth century taking sleeping drafts, but I did not make the connection with the drugs until now.