The Flowery is a small book (almost like a zine) with multiple volumes with each collecting a series of essays and poems from Conscientious Objectors in the Second World War during the years of 1942 to 1944 in Wormwood Scrubs prisons. Only one copy of each issue was published as it was extremely dangerous to be caught making or reading these. 

Reading The Flowery, I was once again reminded of a question posed to me about the role of humor and parody within the context of violent and sorrowful events. Should there be humor made about these morbid events, and if so, who should be the ones to make said humor? What does society deem as acceptable versus unacceptable humor/parody? Is there a period in which it is “too soon” to analyze the event through comedy? 

The Flowery’s notes of humor reminded me of learning about prisoners in Nazi concentration camps who also produced poetry and wrote comedic plays that they would perform in secrecy. The Flowery was also produced during WWII, but from a different and significantly less harsh perspective of conscientious objectors (in relation to the prisoners of concentration camps). These individuals experienced some of humanity’s most heinous acts, and yet they still found space for humor. Although opinions may vary on the role of humor within the context of war and violence, these individuals remind us that to deny them humor is to deny them a piece of their humanity.

In Dr. Ashley Foster’s Bloomsbury and War, she states, “For Woolf, art has the potential to help predispose an ethical way of being towards the world and to unify us in our difference.” I believe that the Flowery acts similarly to Foster’s description of Woolf’s perspective. These pamphlets acted as a voice for advocacy to those imprisoned and thus allowed the public a different perspective of conscientious objection. It gives readers insight into the culture of these prisons, their humor, food, traditions, and language/lingo. It allows us to discover the era’s idiosyncrasies through their writing. This can be discovered through The Flowery’s various sonnets, poems, essays, humorous cartoons, and insights into prison lingo, such as “conchie” for conscientious objectors and “The Scrub’s Alphabet.”