Flora Poetica

Sep 22, 2024 2:29 PM

Author:Sarah Maguire,Sarah Maguire,Sarah Maguire

Flora Poetica

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.

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

Yet again Margrit finds the compassion and the heartfelt truth about animal communication in this wonderful book, touching the hearts of anyone with a love of animals. Margrit continues to inspire readers and create a better world for our animals - a truly wonderful book!

—— Joanne Hull, author of The Pet Psychic

In decades to come, they'll look back on this book with incredulity. Just as we now do reading about the early telephone or internet. They will wonder what took us so long to get it! This stuff is intangible, immeasurable, and beyond most of our comprehension, but it's there! Margrit is chronicling reality; manifesting things we all recognise, but can't or won't believe. This book is essential reading for anyone who's ever truly loved an animal.

—— Nick Thompson BSc (Hons), Path Sci., BVM&S, VetMFHom, MRCVS.

Follow the wisdom in "Angel Pets". Coates creates a sound path for us back to what we have known in our hearts all along.

—— Susan Chernak McElroy, author, "Animals as Teachers and Healers"

Lively and combative ... dauntingly well-informed ... injects a welcome dose of common sense into an issue that has been absurdly lacking in it.

—— John Preston , Sunday Telegraph

Piercing...convincing...timely.

—— Ben Hammersley , Financial Times

[M]ore than rewards a respectful reading, not only for the author's impressive knowledge of the internet toolbox...but because of his ability to relate such technological gadgetry to the increasing challenges that are being posed to entrenched authoritarianism

—— James M Murphy , Times Literary Supplement

Selected by the New York Times as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2011

—— New York Times

The year's most unusual travel book

—— Tom Chesshyre , The Times

[An] eye-opening and hugely enjoyable book

—— Daily Telegraph

Written in a delectable prose that scatters flashes of poetry over a sardonic undertow of social comment, Edgelands is a lyrical triumph. On Britain’s grotty margins, the duo trace “desire paths” to find beauty and mystery in the rough darkness on the edge of town

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent

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