Green Man: The Archetype of Our Oneness with the Earth

by William Anderson, Clive Hicks (Photographer)

The Green movement and the women's movement have picked up on the scientific Gaia hypothesis, which suggests that the planet Earth is a single living organism. The next stage of the ecological revolution begins with the reawakening of the male counterpart of the Goddess, the Green Man, and archetype found in folklore and religious art from the earliest times, and especially linked with Christian origins of modern science. Long suppressed, the archetype emerges now to challenge us to heal our relationship with nature.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mythology, Folklore, Spirituality, Paganism, Art, History

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

William Anderson is a British poet and author of books on may subjects including Dante the Maker (1980), which won the International PEN Club Award "The Silver Pen."

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This is William^^^^Anderson.

Reviews

[K Kriesel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a very mixed response to this book. It's very outdated, both in terms of archeological evidence & historical analysis and also how Anderson writes about different religious & racial groups. It's also disorganized and rambley; the chapters are roughly divided by era but Anderson writes about mythology, art & architecture, now-outdated historical conjecture, and his own thoughts in one big jumble.

Despite the issues with this book, I'm so grateful that a friend recommended it to me & my local library has a copy. I want my own copy! There simply aren't many scholarly sources about the Green Man, and I most especially appreciate Anderson's writing about the connections between the Green Man and the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dark & Gothic art. It took a lot of digging and cringing to get to the wonderful information in this book - my future copy will have copious highlights & notes!

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There was, of course, continued resistance to the Christian attack on the old ways. From the fifth century onwards there are edicts issued by Councils of the Church condemning the worship of trees. They are repeated so frequently presumably because the practice continued. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690, denounced the New Year practice of dressing up as a stag or an old woman. Any who transformed themselves into the appearance of a wild animal had to undergo penance for three years. Charlemagne similarly forbade pagan practice in his capitularies”(54)

“The most influential theologian of the Dark Ages, John Scotus Eriugena (815-877), who translated Dionysius the Areopagite’s works on angels and mysticism into Latin, also wrote of the part played by angels in guiding and maintaining human and mundane affairs. He released and restored great concepts, many of which may later have contributed to the contexts and meanings of the Green Man. He not only presented huge conceptions of the universality of life, he could also show how the major divisions of life are reflected in man. He called man the workshop of all creatures. Man contains the universal creature: he has intellect like an angel, reason like a man, sense like an animal, and life like a plant. He therefore has the world of plants within him as the principle of life and growth” (55).

[Mark Singer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive and well written survey of The Green Man archetype.

[Squirrel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pictorial evidence: 4.5 stars
Accompanying text: 2 stars
In the accompanying text there's a lot of hand waving and a lot of supposed meanings for this motif; the most believable meaning from this book being that the green man was a depiction of Natural Law, inspiration, or is a depiction of holy speech. I don't really follow much of the earlier conjectures made from a couple of examples shorn of their context. The modern chapter could have been skipped entirely.
The black and white pictures work quite well instead of feeling dated. I'm not sure that the few color photos were made that much better for being in color. But otherwise this is a vast trove of images from across Northern Europe & do clearly show the evolution of the symbolism from man-who-vomits-leaves to man-who-is-leaves. A few I thought were edge cases but I think are still useful for comparison.
In general this ended up being a good addition to my interest in foliage in medieval art and I wish I had known about Hildegard of Bingen's book on plants about 10 years ago.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The little summary, about the women's movement and our relationship with nature and whatnot, doesn't seem very well related to the content of this book. What it is, is a very thorough reporting of the appearance of the male foliate face in sculpture throughout European history. It talks about how the typical depiction changes over time; and it spends a fair amount of time discussing the contexts it appears in. The author is usually pretty good about recognizing where knowledge ends and conjecture begins, though he sometimes describes emotions in the faces that I think are more subjective than he implies. There are copious photographs, but most of them are in black-and-white on the same pages as the text, where a lot of the detail is lost to the so-so print quality. The occasional full-color pages are gorgeous.

[Helene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been on my shelf, unread, for a long time. One of my 2017 resolutions is to actually read some of these books that I have long been interested in but have never picked up.

This was not what I expected but I did enjoy it. I expected more folklore, legends, and mythology and though there was enough of that to keep me happy, it was much more about the art of the Green Man, mostly in architecture through the ages.

It is well researched, written, and documented. The photographs are phenomenal and the book is worth it's price for these alone. The photographs, liberally incorporated, support the author's points, some in color.

Though more of a scholarly book than I expected, it certainly held my interest. I was glad the author thought some of the green men were scary too. The absorption of the symbolism by the church through the ages was somewhat surprising for the changes and length of time. I will be much more observant of the symbols now that I have read this book.

[Marley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been interested in The Green Man (more than the Great Goddess) and a long time ago I actually saw him. (Don't ask!)

I can't say I'm very interested in archetypes, but I do enjoy art and architectural history, so I greatly appreciate this study, which with it's focus on architecture (though it certainly discusses archetypes. The author follows the Green Man's history through Western culture right up to modern ecology. The photographs are great. I hate to sound like a juvenile reader, but the only drawback to me was the daunting task of slogging through page-long paragraphs, especially when some of the writing is rather dry. I do, however, recommend this book highly, to anyone interested in Green Man culture, history, and art, and western spirituality You might also take a look around your town. Green Man is everywhere.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

You've probably seen him even if you haven't noticed. This book explores the historical, artistic, architectural and spiritual history of this pre-Christian image that has stubbornly hung on with something akin to ubiquity. The "foliate head" turns up in even the most religious of settings, from Gothic cathedrals to the title pages of Martin Luther's writings. The book can veer a little toward the New Agey at times, but that hazard seems inherent in the subject matter. The profuse photography easily makes up for any flaws, and as an investigation into a true ancient mystery, the book fascinates.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good examination of the green man, particularly in architecture. I had the chance to visit London a year ago and, even though at the time I was only marginally aware of the green man, I saw his image everywhere and became inspired by him. I had hoped the book would have more folk tales and myth associated with the green man, but it is more an examination of his image in architecture. This is fine, just not exactly what I wanted.

[Frostik Dar · Rating 5 out of 5]

(now starting to list shelf #2 in the study)
Greenmen are everywhere...not just at Roslyn Chapel! Actually, I first noticed the gargoyles on older buildings at the U of Washington -- but then started spotting greenmen in friezes there as well. and it's been great fun shooting pictures of every green man spotted in churches.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Green Man as an archetype of the knowledge of plants, divine inspiration and the unity between humanity and Nature that has been disrupted by mechanized agriculture and the industrial revolution.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't think I'd like this book, but it turned out to be very interesting. We had to study this book for our Literature class in college.

[Cicely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring!