Poems on Nature

by Various

This elegantly designed keepsake is a collection of several dozen poems by the world’s greatest poets on the natural world, both flora and fauna. There are poems on nature in general, as well as nature in all of its beautiful specifics: birds, wildlife, flowers, trees, the land, and the sea. Poets include John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Andrew Marvell, Stephen Crane, William Blake, John Greenleaf Whittier, John Clare, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Christina Rossetti, and Sarah Teasdale.

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Meg Upp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun poems about nature. It’s broken into three sections; air, sea, and land. The sea was probably my favorite section but the last poem overall was my favorite. “There will come soft rains” by Sara Teasdale which is about how the world keeps turning even when humans are gone of our own destruction. Easy, quick poetry book for anyone with an appreciation of nature.

[Elizabeth Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice short collection of poems and proses collected from renowned poets. Some of their words were old English so it was fun to read along and use my brain to make sense of their lingo and word choices. Not my usual cup of tea but I do admire seeing how some of us have seen life similarly over the years.

[Danielle Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover is the real treasure here! A lot of old English poems included, which can be difficult to follow. I wouldn’t recommend this to a beginner poetry explorer. That being said, there were some poems included I had not read before elsewhere and that’s always refreshing.

[Kaamya · Rating 4 out of 5]

"But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm weather,
And singing, and loving -- all come back together."

"Pourest thy full heart in profuse strains of unpremeditated art."

"Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought."

"There is a Power whose care teaches thy way along that pathless coast"

"And Silence's impassioned breathings round seemed wandering into sound."

"Dark wave and stone, unconsciously, were fused
Into the plaintive speaking that we used,
Of absent friends and memories unforsook"

"Memory dwells in my far away home,
She has nothing to do with me."

"The ocean solitudes are blest, for there is purity."

"How much I love thy pensive blue"

Favorites: To a Skylark, A Sea-Side Walk, Sea Song, The Ocean, Dover Beach, To the Violet

[Steph K · Rating 4 out of 5]

zooweemama. Reading this collection is a perfect precursor to going to Greece oh my god. It made me so excited to go back to the beach and made me miss it so much. They ended on one of my favorite poems and it's just what I needed to launch me into healing girl summer. It's a super short read too — you could finish it in a day if you like to read poetry like that. Some poems were kind of religious without warning, but that didn't bother me too much. Either way, LOVE.

[Bree Hatfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun and pleasant collection of pre-modern poetry. I don’t read a lot of pre-modern poetry, so this was a good way for me to get a peak into romantic poems and see what they were like. Of course, these poems are not necessarily indicative of what any given poet usually writes, but because the subject matter is so profound, it gives you a hint at what the poet is capable of. Absolutely recommend to anyone who loves nature, wants a quick read, or wants to read pre-modern poetry!

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A chapbook of several dozen poems by the world’s greatest poets on the natural world, the air, the sea, and the land.

A book I’m reading on poetry right now advises that the best way to get into reading poetry is to read and notice what particularly arrests our attention and gives us pleasure.. So I decided to follow this advice with this delightful chapbook that a local bookstore threw in as an “extra” with my other purchases. Poems on Nature collects several dozen poems from some of the “greats” in poetry. These include Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Christina Rosetti, William Blake, Sara Teasdale, and many others.

The poems are organized around “Air,” “Sea,” and “Land.” I’ll mention one or two in each section that I particularly enjoyed. You’ll probably like different ones, and that is just fine!

Under “Air,” I delighted in revisiting Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Sympathy” with its famous line “I know why the caged bird sings…” I had not encountered John Greenleaf Whittier’s “The Robin,” in which he recounts the words of an old Welshwoman explaining how the robin got its red breast. In addition, there are poems from Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, and Yeats, and others.

“The Sea” poems evoked for me something of the sea’s mysterious character. Christina Rosetti in “By the Sea” asks “Why does the sea moan evermore?” By contrast, Thomas Campion celebrates the empire of Neptune in “A Hymn in Praise of Neptune.” Then Alfred, Lord Tennyson evokes our fears of sea creatures of the deeps in “The Kraken.” I’ve always found thought-provoking the image of the ebbing of “The Sea of Faith” in “Dover Beach.”

Finally, the section on “Land begins with Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees.” We all know the opening lines “I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree.” But do you remember her self-deprecating concluding lines: “Poems are made by fools like me, / But only God can make a tree”? Then Vachel Lindsay speaks for every homeowner in “The Dandelion” that is “rich and haughty.” It scorns the lawn-mower, even when its “yellow heads are cut away.” “By noon you raise a sea of stars / More golden than before.”

Sara Teasdale concludes the collection with “There will come soft rains (War Time).” She describes the coming of spring in a time of war. She concludes with a haunting pair of couplets:

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we are gone.

This should give give us all pause amid our hubristic pretensions.

Poems on Nature is ideal for gifts. The first page even has “to” and “from” lines for inscriptions. The chapbook format makes for easy carrying, more portable than an e-book. It is a great introduction to several dozen great poets without the bulky anthology. I really must thank my local bookseller!

[Riley Spellman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously when reading older poetry, there’s always times when you have no idea what’s being said. But I still enjoyed this collection!

Some poems were old favorites, revisited: “Sympathy” (Paul Laurence Dunbar); “To a Mouse” (Robert Burns); & “Trees” (Joyce Kilmer).

And most of the poems were new and exciting! A lot of familiar names that I’ve yet to read before, and this was a nice sample of each! Makes me excited to read the Walt Whitman collection I just bought!

If you love nature and if you love poems, this is for you!

[Madisyn Manzella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: more like 3.5 stars. There were some poems I didn't really care for and I wish this book was longer. Overall, I enjoyed most of the poems in here and will explore some of these poets further.

[ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a good time to read, but i couldn’t understand a lot of them but it is a collection of classic poetry and i don’t read a lot of that so that’s probably why

[Sarah Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a bit of the poems were dull to me, but the few that stood out were marvelous!

[shelby frederickson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a reflection on any of the poems and how well written they were. I just come to the realization that i am not a fan of poetry.

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick little read, only 55 pages, I enjoyed it.

[Kelli Godfrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

But I rounded up because I’m not a huge poetry person so it didn’t seem right to judge too harshly haha

[Ashley Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the biggest fan of poems but loved the nature aspect. 🦎

[Quince · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some very good poems and some very well known poems but the collection is just a collection with a loose theme. Nothing terrible and nothing spectacular

[Pattie Babbitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Air poems were fine, sea poems were depressing, and the land poems were the best in the set. Quite liked the ending poem.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice relaxing chapbook. I preferred the ‘Sea’ oriented poetry; A Hymn in Praise of Neptune and The Kraken, as examples. Overall a good little collection.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poem every morning; most I have previously read & loved, but a couple were kind of downers—for the realists/cynics among us, I guess.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice sampler for anyone who wants to dip their toes into poetry!

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this pocket collection of nature poems. There are included some famous staples, and also many poets I'd not encountered before.

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

...not a poetry girl, yet trying very, very hard to be 😅

[Sebastian · Rating 1 out of 5]

even though this was free at barnes and noble, i still feel ripped off.

[Amanda Esthelm · Rating 3 out of 5]

It didn’t blow my mind but it wasn’t bad