Flora Poetica: The Chatto Book of Botanical Verse

by Sarah Maguire (Author)

• Prizes: ','1','ChildrenBookAge: ','Book Overview: This unique and beautiful anthology of flower poems is the perfect gift for gardeners.','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 *','Sarah Maguire\'s three volumes of poetry, Spilt Milk, The Invisible Mender and The Florist\'s at Midnight, have brought her much acclaim. Formerly poet in residence at the Chelsea Physic Garden, she is currently the Writing Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies. She is much in demand at readings and festivals and frequently broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and 4.');">

  Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $3.45

  This beautiful anthology brings together over 250 poems about flowers, plants and trees from eight centuries of writing in English, creating a rich bouquet of intriguing juxtapositions. Fourteenth-century lyrics sit next to poems of the twenty-first century; celebrations of plants native to the English soil share the volume with more exotic plant poetry. There are thirty 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 celebrated poet Sarah Maguire brings her extensive horticultural knowledge to bear on all the poems, arranging them into botanical families, identifying the plants being written about and writing a fascinating introduction. Whether you are a poetry lover, a gardener, a botanist, or simply the purchaser of the occasional bunch of flowers, this unique anthology allows you to luxuriate amidst the world's flora.