Green Verse

by Rosie Storey Hilton (Editor)

Taking time for nature poetry is an act of reverence for the natural world, and a path to understanding our part in it.

Nature poetry has been redefined through the centuries, shapeshifting through the major upheavals of our relationship with the landscapes, plants and non-human species with whom we share the earth. As our environment is destabilised and threatened by the climate crisis, we can once again find new meanings, causes for hope and catalysts for action in these poems.

Arranged by season – and full of surprises – this anthology shows the vast breadth of writing on the natural world, and challenges homogenous ideas of what a nature poet can look like. The choices in this anthology see beloved poets celebrated alongside new and emerging writers, whose voices echo the urgency of the crisis we now face. Together, they show what we have in common across countries and centuries: an undeniable kinship with nature, and a fierce will to protect it.

These poems will transport you, sending you into the garden, forests and rockpools with searching hands and open eyes.

Genres: Nature

160 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2024

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

(2.5) Part of the “In the Moment” series, this anthology of nature poetry has been arranged seasonally – spring through to winter – and, within season, roughly thematically. No context or biographical information is given on the poets apart from birth and death years for those not living. Selections from Emily Dickinson, William Shakespeare and W.B. Yeats thus share space with the work of contemporary and lesser-known poets. This is a similar strategy to the Wildlife Trusts’ Seasons anthologies, the ranging across time meant to suggest continuity in human engagement with the natural world. However, with a few exceptions (the above plus Thomas Hardy’s “The Darkling Thrush” and Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “Inversnaid” are absolute classics, of course), the historical verse tends to be obscure, rhyming and sentimental; unfair to deem it all purple or doggerel, but sometimes bodies of work are forgotten for a reason. By contrast, I found many more standouts among the contemporary poets. Some favourites: “Cyanotype, by St Paul’s Cathedral” by Tamiko Dooley, “Eight Blue Notes” by Gillian Dawson (about eight species of butterfly), the gorgeously erotic “the bluebells are coming out & so am I” by Maya Blackwell, and “The Trees Don’t Know I’m Trans” by Eddy Quekett. It was also worthwhile to discover poems from other ancient traditions, such as haiku by Issa (“O Snail”) and wise aphoristic verse by Lao Tzu (“All things pass”). So, a bit of a mixed bag, but a nice introductory text for those newer to poetry.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Iara Moure · Rating 2 out of 5]

basicamente fu eun compilado de poesia, buenos poetas btw, pero carece de originalidad