Flora Poetica: The Chatto Book of Botanical Verse

(Paperback)

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Description

This anthology brings together over 250 poems about flowers, plants and trees from eight centuries of writing in English: 14th-century lyrics sit next to poems of the 21st century; celebrations of plants native to the English soil share the volume with more exotic plant poetry from further afield. There are 30 poems about roses, by poets as diverse as Shakespeare, Dorothy Parker and the South African, Seitlhamo Motsapi; but there are also sections devoted to more unusual plants such as the mandrake, the starapple and the tamarind. An ex-gardener, the poet Sarah Maguire brings her extensive botanical knowledge to bear on all the poems, arranging them into botanical families, identifying the plants being written about and writing an introduction about how the history of flowers goes hand in hand with the history of English poetry.

Reviews

As entrancing as the lost gardens of Heligan... This sumptuous book is a historical revelation too, and shows how the history of flowers goes hand in hand with the history of English poetry... I cannot imagine an anthology anyone would enjoy more -- Ruth Padel * Independent *
One of the most rewarding anthologies of recent years -- John Burnside * Scotsman *
An excellent and stimulating anthology * Daily Telegraph *
Beautifully assembled * Sunday Times *

Author Bio

Sarah Maguire (Author, Edited by, Introducer) Born in west London, where she lived all her life, Sarah Maguire left school early to train as a gardener. The author of four highly praised poetry collections, she was the editor of Flora Poetica- The Chatto Book of Botanical Verse. The first writer to be sent to Palestine and Yemen by the British Council, she was the founder and director of the Poetry Translation Centre, an organisation that aims to enhance English poetry by engaging with the rich poetic traditions of the UK's recent immigrant communities. Sarah Maguire died in 2017.