Waxing Lyrical About Bees
Bees have held a special place in the hearts of humans for centuries.
Ancient cultures have long valued bees along with their wax and honey. Philosophers and great thinkers have been inspired by bees.
Playwrights, authors, poets and artists have long found a space for bees in their works.
The world religions find a place for bees to set an example to humanity and provide evidence of God's blessing.
The result is that bees feature everywhere: they crop up in quotes and proverbs, poems and plays, science and medicine, the great holy books and novels through the ages.
Here you can explore some of these themes.
Bee-themed Quotes And Proverbs
From playwrights, poets, philosophers and more.
Poems about bees
Poems by Emily Dickinson, Kahlil Gibran, Ogden Nash, Rudyard Kipling, A. A. Milne and more.
Bee jokes and tongue twisters
Bees can even be funny! Have a chortle at some of these, and see if you can manage to get your tongue around our very own tongue twisters.
Bees in mythology
From Ra the Sun God to Cupid the honey thief.
Why Sherlock Holmes became a beekeeper
Why was Conan Doyle inspired to give his famous detective the hobby of beekeeping?
Bees and symbolism
Bees are associated with hard work and blessing. They are carved onto buildings, appear on coats of arms as well as in myths of old.
The Poem Y Gododdin
An ancient Welsh poem.
The Bees Knees
Where does this phrase come from, what is the origin of the Bees' Knees cocktail, and do bees really have knees?
Bees in the Bible
A look at the many references to bees and honey through out the Old and New Testaments
Judges 14
The meaning of Judges 14, wherein Samson kills a lion, and then eats honey from the lion carcass
Bees in the Quran
A look at where honey bees and honey feature in the Quran and what it represents.
Bees in Judaism
How bees and honey influence Jewish religious customs and traditions.
What do you call a group of beekeepers?
Alternative phrases for groups of beekeepers!
Victorian etching of bees
..and what it tells us.
Encaustic art
A form of art that uses beeswax as a medium. Here, a Q&A with Victoria Primicias.
